The Game
by Artemis Queen of the Stars
Summary: Requested by Decepti-Kitty. Time to prove your human worth and intelligence in a game of fear and the mind. The person besides you could be the one to kill you. Trust no one and never fall in love for nothing is as it seems.
1. Prologue

**Hey !**

** First, let me be juvenile and say "YOU'VE ALL JUST LOST!" *ahem***

** This story is in response to a request from decepti-kitty for a Scarecrow and Riddler story (no slash, let's just clear that up before we start), so sit back and enjoy what I see as what Gotham villains would consider a good 'game night.' Ratings will go up and constructive criticism is welcome (but be nice), and as always, review **

**Artemis xx**

**Prologue**

The many television screens flickered on the wall dimly, illuminating a man with brilliantly bright red hair and watery blue eyes. This combination would usuallyget the man noticed, but his attire only served to emphasise this. He was in a generic suit, but the jacket was a brilliant shade of emerald green, as well as the eccentric crocodile skin shoes he wore and the bowler hat he twirled in his green gloved hands. He smiled at the screens, each showing a faintly lit room which had been specified to fit the entertainment of the evening. Right now however, he was intently focused just one set. As opposed to the other rooms, the screen showed eight bodies strewn across the floor. Eight women, all unconscious and with no idea of the night which lay ahead of them. Most were still as the grave, others still twitching in response to the nerve gas used on them. The suited man smiled.

"So pleased you invited me over for tonight's entertainment Dr. Crane." He thanked the man to his side who was wearing a gas mask (and who was busy fiddling with a camcorder to be troubled with how the subjects on the screen were doing). Crane kept his back to the man in the green suit and continued positioning the camera.

He brushed off Dr. Crane's rebuttal genially. He was used to his compatriot's cold manner. Unravelling a Ferrero Roche from the pyramid besides his chair, Edward Nygma, more famous in the city of Gotham as the Riddler, bit into his chocolate with an appreciative moan. Whilst he was best known in the city for his love of riddles, Edward's secret passions also included a bottle of fine wine and something to satisfy his sweet tooth. Both of which, were set up in-between the two chairs.

"Why ambassador, you're spoiling me." He smiled, remembering that old chestnut of an advert which always used to make him smile. Over to his side, his host looked up from the camcorder he was setting up.

"Edward." Jonathan Crane replied from behind his mask. Although the gas mask he was wearing blocked the unimpressed look on his face, the sheer ennui in his voice told Nygma that his reference had indeed fallen flat, "Whilst I'm...ah...thrilled that you agreed to join me for tonight's experiment...and indeed, your contribution to the proceedings are much appreciated, please try and take this seriously." He muttered. Edward looked round in shock at his friend. It had been a while since the breakout in which he and his colleague had escaped Arkham. Now however, Jonathan Crane seemed so different. Instead of his scratchy burlap sack he used for a mask, in its place was now an old fashioned gas mask, covered in a sort of executioner's hood (still made from the old burlap, but still a new style) which was tied at the neck with a hangman's noose. Instead of the traditional red scarecrow top, Crane now elected to walk around topless, showing off his gangly, scared figure. What really shocked Edward however, was the change in voice. Jonathan Crane's voice was usually so deep and drawling, intimidating and commanding respect. Now however, it sounded high pitched and androgynous.

"Err...Jonathan." He asked carefully as not to offend his host, "Whilst I'm loving the...ah...new look, I'm afraid it's not logical to me as to the sudden in change...physically and...er..."

"The voice?" Crane asked as if bored of the question Nygma was asking, like he had heard it a million times before. Edward nodded.

"It's just...so unexpected, you know?" He hastily explained. Crane sighed.

"It's quite simple really." He explained, "All linked to the voice. You see, I'm afraid that being around my toxin for as long as I have has...changed me in more ways than one..."

"You mean apart from your need to always attract the Batman's attention?" Nygma interrupted irritably. Whilst it wasn't unusual for any of the villains of Gotham to end up in a one and one sparring match with the Dark Knight, Crane seemed to crave seeing Batman on his missions, along with the fact that he was the only one apart from the Joker to enjoy putting himself in life threatening situations between him and the annoying menace. Crane rolled his eyes from behind the mask.

"Yes, apart from that." He muttered. Edward shuddered. Even though the voice had changed, it's bitterness and calmness still had the power to make your blood run cold, "I'm afraid it's damaged my voice beyond recognition, even the Scarecrow's is different. After that, I decided it was time for a new approach. It's hard to look like the personification of fear as a Scarecrow when your voice doesn't do you justice." He attached a gauntleted glove to his hand and waved it in front of his guest. Nygma yelped and dived forward in his seat to avoid the many syringes attached instead of fingers. "Of course, when people think that a touch from me will trap them in their darkest nightmares...welll, fear is restored." He chuckled manically, looking back to the screen which contained the unconscious hostages. Nygma gasped in relief.

"So this isn't a trap to lure Batman into just so that you can feel fear is it?" He asked suspiciously. He hadn't given up a valuable fortnight planning this evening to end up back in Arkham.

"No." Replied Crane shortly, "Tonight's entertainment is just for us...unless you felt compelled to set up a series of clues to show Batman where the hostages are?" He countered. Nygma blushed furiously.

"Of course not. Do you think I'd face your wrath by ruining one of your experiments?" Crane sniggered from behind his mask.

"My my, such self control; especially from the likes of us." He crooned, making sure that the camera was exactly at face height (which proved a challenge considering how tall Jonathan Crane was). Nygma growled.

"I believe I took your charming girlfriend's advice and...what was it? 'Do a Sudoku instead.' Crane looked up sharply from fiddling with the tripod.

"She is not my girlfriend." He remarked haughtily, "A girlfriend is what a horny, acne scarred teenager has for an ill conceived attempt at a rite of passage. Or what the joker calls Harleen. Catherine's 24, not 16! If you must, you may call Catherine my partner."

"Whatever." Nygma snapped. He was not going to get into the pragmatics of the English language with the doctor, especially over something so petty and trivial (which, when you came down to it, Crane won anyway because he had someone to fill the bed he never slept in himself, unlike Edward). Looking around however, he suddenly realised something.

"And where is the charming Psyche tonight?" He asked, careful to disguise the scorn in his voice for Crane's not so better half, "I thought she had made it clear that you weren't to kidnap anymore women after her?"

"Catherine," Crane growled, positioning himself before a backdrop, "doesn't know what won't hurt her. Besides, you can relax Edward; she was part of the group that weren't successful on the last outbreak. As far as I know, she's still in Arkham. Apparently, lying comatose on her bed...Or so I believe." He brushed the last sentence off simply, apparently not caring that his healthy partner was reportedly catatonic, "Tonight, it's just you and me."

"Well at least she has Jervis to keep her company." Edward said snidely, not even bothering to hide his disgust for the man, "You know, he's still asking me that stupid 'riddle' of his! 'Why is raven like a writing desk?' That's not a riddle! That's just an insult to my intelligence! The man doesn't even bother trying to give a credible reply to such swill, he just walks off grinning like some drooling..."

"I'm well aware how you feel towards Tech." Crane interrupted, "And Psyche. Though be grateful. The new strain of gas used tonight was brought to you by her after the...ah...incident." Inwardly, he snarled at the memory of that disastrous event. He and Catherine had stayed up for a week strengthening their toxin, furious at the slight it had caused Crane

"Though I'd finish your glass of wine soon if I was you."

"Why's that? You haven't run out after just one bottle Scarecrow! I know you have a cellar full of this stu..."

"The subjects are beginning to come around." He whispered menacingly, "Time to start tonight's games."

"Ah, splendid." The Riddler smiled, downing the last of his glass, "Pictionary's so overrated these days."

* * *

**A/N: Catherine/ Psyche is my own OC from another story. Don't worry, you don't need to know her full story for this as she's not important to the plot.**

**For all those waiting for Melinoe, I've started writing it but will put it up after I've finished this. Consider this a taste for what's to come xx**

**Out of interest, The Riddler's apparently in the next Nolan film. Question is, who do you think should play him? I quite fancy Neil Patrick Harris but that's just me. Let me know in reviews**


	2. Welcome to the Experiment

**Chapter 1: Pleased That You Could Join Us**

Darkness. Dizzying darkness. The girl had no idea how long she had been in this oblivion, all she knew was that it seemed to go on forever.

"What's going on? Where am I?" She thought hazily. Last thing she remembered, she had gotten off the bus and was fiddling with the keys to her flat, when it had suddenly gone dark. She was vaguely aware that she was on the floor, though for how long she had been there, she had no idea.

"Move. Wiggle your fingers." The girl willed herself, her eyes still closed (deciding that it would be better to keep her eyes shut in terror for what was going on). To her relief, she felt her fingers waggle. Good, she wasn't paralysed.

"Ok, that's good...now slowly open your eyes." She whispered to herself. Digging her fingernails into the floorboards around her, she braced herself for the worst and upon opening them slowly and easing herself up, she definitely got the worst.

The dim, flashing light bulb on the ceiling illuminated a large, dank, circular room. Easing herself to her feet slowly, she gasped at the sight before her.

Seven other girl were in the room as well. Some were still twitching on the ground. Some in the process of standing. Each wore a look of either extreme confusion, or sheer terror. All were screaming.

"What's going on?"

"Why am I here?"

One girl who was only just getting up looked around the room and began crying, shaking in paralysing fear. All the other girls ignored her, too caught up in their own panic to comfort someone too scared to get up off the ground. The girl standing up ran up to her and helped her up to the ground.

"It's ok, it's ok, don't panic! Shhh, you can't solve this panicking like this!" She soothed, hugging her. The girl's face was hidden by a mass of raven black hair and a thick fringe, but the girl heard her crying into her shoulder.

"I'm Chloe. What's yours?" Chloe asked gently, her training beginning to kick in. The black haired girl looked up, peering at Chloe confused over the top of her purple framed glasses. Her green eyes still brimming with tears.

"Lisa...Lisa Whedon." The girl whispered cautiously. Chloe smiled encouragingly.

"Nice to meet you Lisa. Do you think you can stand up properly?" Lisa straightened up slowly. She was much smaller than Chloe, though looked about the same age.

"You've done this before." Lisa whispered shakily, still clinging to Chloe's arm with hands clothed in brown leather gloves. Chloe smiled, was she really coming across as this calm? Jesus, underneath, she was screaming.

"No, just done a course in handling hostage situations." Chloe assured, her mind thinking back to the damn week she had wasted before going into Arkham on her internship (for all the good it had done her). She looked around to the rest of the girls who were in tears, about to ask anybody else if they were alright, when the TV on the wall, above the closed door flickered on. Everybody in the room screamed in terror, none more so than Chloe. On the screen was the one man in the world she never wanted to see ever again.

"Good evening ladies." The Scarecrow's ghastly image flashed up on the fuzzy screen. He surveyed the room slowly, seemingly drinking in the terror on the hostage's faces. Some of the girls sank to the floor in utter terror, others, like Chloe and Lisa gripped each other, frozen to the spot. Scarecrow chuckled from behind his mask.

"I see my reputation precedes me." He said silkily, thrilled at the fear he was still capable of enacting despite his recent change. One girl with curly blonde hair in a beige trench coat stepped forward.

"What the hell is this?" She screamed up at the screen, "Why have you done this you freak? " Scarecrow regarded her lazily, clearly not intimidated by the girl.

"Ah, Sofia Falcone." He announced smoothly, as if calling a patient for an interview. "I'm pleased that you could join us tonight."

"Cut the crap!" She screamed at the TV, "What are we doing here?"

"Miss Falcone." Scarecrow cut her off firmly, "Please do not confuse idiocy with bravery. To see the position you are currently in, I wouldn't gamble with your life, nor the lives of your peers by acting the fool."

Sofia Falcone opened her mouth to speak, but a girl in purple behind her, dark skinned and an afro brushed out impressively, stepped forward precariously.

"P...please? Please Sofia." She whispered, "Don't do anything to make him mad!" Sofia glanced mutinously at her fellow hostage, opening her mouth to say something, but Scarecrow cut her off.

"Rosie Turpin I presume?" He greeted. His voice was blank and monotone, but carried an undercurrent of hate that it caused all in the room to shrink back. Rosie nodded slowly.

"Good to see you again Dr. Crane." Rosie stuttered. It was clear the position they were in, and Chloe observed that Rosie was clearly avoiding angering Crane in an attempt to survive. She crossed her fingers, hopefully, Rosie's tactic would work. Scarecrow sneered coldly.

"I wouldn't say that in your position Rose, though for me personally, I am delighted that you could join us for tonight's events." Rosie's eyes widened in abject fear at the sound of this.

"And...what would be the...the event Crane?" She asked shakily, still trying to keep her cordial manner, but failed as it slipped to reveal her true fear. On the screen, the Scarecrow chuckled before it cut to another figure on the screen. Chloe frowned slightly, the man in the purple mask and green was unrecognisable to her. Indeed, out of the eight girls, all but two (including Rosie and a girl with very short blonde hair) stared blankly at the television. The green man smirked.

"Welcome ladies, to a very special night." He crooned to them charmingly, "Allow me to introduce myself to you properly after my colleague. Edward Nygma, Master of Riddles and the mind. However, on this auspicious of nights, I will simply say that it is my absolute pleasure to meet you and you may call me The Riddler."

Chloe looked to the screen with interest. Unlike Crane, this new man was well groomed, charming and appeared rather dapper. But like Crane, his voice carried an undercurrent of danger. He looked so familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Ladies, forgive me for being blunt, but you look nervous." The Riddler observed, smiling coldly, "Perhaps a little riddle will soothe you."

All the girls looked at each other uneasily. What was happening? The Riddler smiled serenely at their confused faces.

"What is the most precious thing in your life which you cannot live without?" He asked simply. All the girls gave up nervous side glances towards each other in favour of clear, confused gawks. Riddler chuckled happily.

"Come come girls, no need to be nervous, just answer honestly." He ordered, seemingly gently, but again there was that undercurrent. Chloe's eyes widened.

* * *

"_Ah, the new Arkham intern!" The red headed man cheerily called as Chloe passed his glass screen. She turned to him slowly, smiling at him professionally._

"_Good afternoon sir. How are you today?" She asked brightly, maintaining the professional detachment Dr. Arkham had cautioned her to use to the inmates _

"_Don't let them get under your skin." He had warned her, "Keep your distance. If Dr. Quinzel had listened, she may still be here."_

"_Ah, what a charming and well mannered intern you are." The red haired man was clearly impressed at Chloe's demeanour, "Much better than the last intern. He always put the taser on me whenever I tried to speak..."_

"_That's awful!" Chloe gasped, turning back to the mysterious red haired man. This Jonathan Crane could wait. The man smiled wearily._

"_Just his way of claiming dominance over me, weak as he was." He shrugged. Regarding Chloe from the feet up. "He was too simple minded to even comprehend mentally the honour of receiving a conundrum from me. May I test you on one?"_

"_Ok then." Chloe smiled. This was harmless enough, besides, she liked brain teasers like this. Almost as much as her specialist subject anyway. The red haired man smiled._

"_Wonderful." He cried out jovially, "Ok, what has five sides but is invisible to the human eye?"_

_Chloe pondered the riddle for a while. Could it be reality? No, he didn't seem the nihilistic type. She was about to give up, when she caught her reflection in the glass screen. Could it be?_

"_Five sides? Invisible? It's not a mime's glass box is it?" She asked carefully. The man beamed._

"_Correct! Ah, a worthy opponent." He chuckled. He was impressed, clearly Chloe had thought outside the box. Chloe smiled happily, pleased at herself for getting the (admittedly random) answer. Then she remembered why she was in that god awful place._

"_I'm sorry sir, I have to go, I have a designated meeting with one other prisoner. I can't miss it..."_

"_Quite understandable." He smiled, though looking quite disgruntled at losing his new sparring buddy to another, "I bid you good day." Chloe smiled._

"_Hopefully Jonathan Crane will be as much fun as this." She joked to him, beginning to walk away. If she had looked back, she would have seen the man jump up worriedly._

"_Jonathan Crane? Be careful child!" He called. Unfortunately for him, Chloe could no longer hear him. _

_

* * *

_

So that man, that mysterious man who she never saw after that day...was the Riddler? Chloe blinked herself back to the present. On screen, the Riddler was beginning to get impatient.

"Anyone? Come on, it's a simple riddle." He growled threateningly. Sofia raised her chin bravely.

"Chocolate." She blurted out. The Riddler was not impressed.

"My cell phone?" Guessed Rosie. His lips began to thin.

"My boyfriend." Piped up Lisa bravely. Seeing him bare his teeth at her however, she soon shrunk back into the background.

"Oxygen?" The girl with short blonde hair suggested logically. His shoulders relaxed a bit.

"Close, but no." He snapped irritably. Suddenly, Chloe's mind began to whirl. She'd got it.

"Life." She almost yelled. It had to be that! The Riddler looked up in surprise.

"Yes." He said, not being able to quite believe that someone had gotten it. He was beginning to enjoy getting angry at the stupid people, "Your name child?" He inquired, causing Chloe to gulp.

"Chloe." She whispered, "Chloe Mandelson."

"Hmmm, well well done Miss Mandelson." He congratulated, "You are right. You cannot live without life, the question is, how much do you women value life?"

All the girls in the room began screaming again in hopeless fear. They were going to be butchered!

"Through that door." The Scarecrow announced, the screen cutting back to him, "Are your greatest fears and tasks designed to test you to the limits of human strength. You have five minutes to leave this room before it fills with poisonous gas. If you complete tonight, you may leave with your lives. If you fail...well...you can die knowing you helped assist with crucial psychological research." He sneered bitterly as the TV's cut off.

Screaming. The room erupted into uninhibited screaming as the realisation hit that this was real. There was no waking up from this dream in their beds, they had to fight, they had to learn fast. God knows what was behind the door below the TV.

Unexpectedly, the fire door swung open suddenly, causing all the girls to jump backwards. Despite Lisa being dressed in a thick red parka and brown leather gloves, she began to shake. Chloe shook to, but grabbed hold of her hand. It was her job to be a pillar of strength, she wasn't going to give up now.

"It's ok Leese." She tried to smile, but also shook, despite the black jacket she wore, "We'll do this together."

Remembering they had a time limit to get out, six of the girls screamed and stampeded though the small door, fighting each other desperately as to not be the last in. Chloe and Lisa waited patiently, following only when there was room.

In the dark they heard hissing. In the dark, they became aware something wasn't right. They all began choking.

"Gas!" Screamed Rosie hysterically. "Fear gas! God help us! God help us all." Before collapsing, choking on the fumes.

* * *

**Hope you like it**

**As always, REVIEW XXXX  
**


	3. Dismorphophobia: Fear of Being Ugly

**Dismorphophobia: Fear of Being Ugly**

Chloe grasped at her throat desperately, the sensation of the gas flowing down her gullet was unbearably irritating.

All of the girls dove to the floor in a vain attempt to avoid being affected. In the blackness, many accidentally landed on each other and yelled out in pain. On the loudspeaker, the Scarecrow's cruel, manic laughter filled the room at the sight of the struggling girls on the infra red show he was observing from the comfort of the plump armchair he was now sat on beside Riddler.

"Now feel your sense and reason abandon you, the broken society you so cling to slips away, leaving you as defenceless as you were in the crib." He hissed coldly over the intercom. All the girls moaned loudly, his words cutting through them sharply like a knife.

"My my, such fear for one man." Chuckled the Riddler. Chloe shivered upon hearing his voice again. Had it been naive of her to think of him as just another harmless lunatic at the asylum? No wonder she hadn't been able to cut it, maybe Crane had been right.

"I would not trouble yourselves ladies, this is simply just a task of honourabilty." He assured them brightly...too brightly for the current situation, like the calm before the storm.

"All you need to know." He continued, ignoring the cries, "is the answer to this harmless riddle to prepare yourselves, that's all:

When you first see me, you instantly recognise me.

I show you exactly what you show me.

I can fill you with happiness or bring you to tears.

I am a skilled liar, unlike a camera.

My poker face makes me able to improve yours.

What am I?

On the screen, the two men were delighted to see the mixture of anxiety, fear and confusion on the young women's faces. The Scarecrow turned, satisfied to the Riddler.

"I believe the fear of the unknown is in fact, the greatest fear these girls suffer." Crane commented silkily, looking towards the shrieking mass, drinking in the horror hungrily. Besides him, the Riddler smiled.

"My my, this isn't even hard." He chuckled, "I doubt any would survive the end of the night Jonathan, what do you thi..."

"A mirror!" A voice shrieked on the speakers. Crane and Nygma both looked up in surprise. Lisa was stood up, spinning around wildly as if trying to be able to see the camera in the dark. "It's a mirror! I instantly recognise myself when I see one, but I see an exact reflection of how I look that day..."

"Shit." Riddler growled, "I thought I had won that one." He bared his teeth angrily, why did this bitch have to take away the glorious moment when he revealed the answer.

"Ah, Lisa Whedon." Crane clicked the speaker on, cutting Nygma off. Let him have a fit, but let the challenge begin first, "And how are you enjoying yourself so far?" Lisa continued to spin around, looking unsure of how to answer.

"Why am I here?" She replied, trying to sound strong and defiant, but her voice cracked. The Scarecrow sneered cruelly.

"Why Miss Whedon? Why? Simple, I'm afraid you owe me and debt of honour. Well, me and my associate to be more precise." Lisa stopped spinning and froze to the spot in bewilderment. Suddenly, a look of horror spread over her face.

"Oh my god." She squeaked, "My paper."

"Yes Miss Whedon, your paper. I must say, I've read many student papers on the psychology of sadism and relationships. However, yours was the first I've ever read which offended me so much...or my partner."

All the girls gasped in the dark, looking directly at where they all thought Lisa was standing. Lisa sobbed.

"I didn...I didn't..."

"Oh but you did." He snarled viciously, "You meant it when you wrote such slanderous filth, how I treat Elizabeth Griffin as nothing more than a chained dog. You confuse me with the Joker my dear, and I'm afraid Psyche demands vengeance."

Lisa moaned, swaying slightly then falling to the ground. None of the girls could blame her. Jonathan Crane was indeed the Master of Fear. Psyche however, was the Mistress of Fear. Known as Psyche, Elizabeth Griffin was well known in Gotham for her cruelness and the pleasure she took in violence. Psyche was The Scarecrow's right hand and god help anybody who offended either her or him as either one would rise up in terrifying revenge.

"Your time will come Miss Whedon. That I promise you, all your times will come tonight. Until then however... clever child, you are correct."

With a bang, the lights came on in the room, blindingly illuminating every detail in the room. The door was a heavy metal, with a sports clock above it, frozen at 3 minutes. The girls rose up from the floor slowly.

Mirrors. Every inch of the walls, ceiling and floor was covered in mirrors, framed in place by coving on the walls. Lisa shrunk down at the sight of guns attached to the coving and all aimed on the eight women. The blonde haired girl with feathery hair cried out loudly.

"We're going to die! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" She screamed in tears. All of the women jumped into each other and held on tight. Lisa and Rosie clutched each other and both put their heads down, beginning to pray under their breath. Yes, all the girls clung together. All except one.

Sofia remained fixed in her standing position, staring at the mirrors with her mouth open at her own reflection.

"Mirrors." Riddler crooned over the intercom silkily, "Are just one of the many things in this world which lie to us. They show us what we want people to see, and not what we actually are. Some become so addicted to the lie the mirror shows that they do not recognise the real them underneath..."

"Stop it!" Sofia screamed, covering her face and beginning to howl like a wounded animal.

"This is a task of honourabilty." Nygma repeated on the intercom, ignoring Sofia's cries. "The door to your right needs a chip in the key card on the floor there. The guns on the walls are poised to fire three minutes after I press this button I hold in my hand. You will all die a painful and...well, noisy death. Never fear however. The chip is in your grasp as my companion will tell you now."

"As I was waiting for you to awaken, I preformed a little operation on one of you." Scarecrow's voice announced clinically, to a chorus of screams. He continued, "The chip you need to open the door and deactivate the guns before you is carefully hidden in the cheek of one of your companions. The knife on the table which you can see is a scalpel. Whoever can feel the scar on the inside of her cheek may take the scalpel and cut her cheek lightly. You will be left with a small scar on your face, but you will obtain the chip needed to save you and your friend's lives. You will also be proud, you will have confronted your fear of ugliness and be beloved by your friend's for your bravery. The choice, I leave up to you. I must ask you to make your choice quickly though, you have three minutes." Over the intercom, the women heard a small click and the Riddler's cruel, manic laugh as the countdown began.

All the girls began looking around desperately for a girl to step forward and take the scalpel from the table. None did, but it didn't take a genius to figure out who the girl was. Sofia was crying hard, clutching her face in both her hands.

"Please Miss Falcone!" Chloe screamed, "Please save us!" She jumped on the knife and offered it to Sofia. "Just a small scratch, that's all you need! Please, please..."

Sofia looked hard at the knife, reaching out with a shaking hand and taking it from Chloe, she looked down in tears. All of a sudden, she raised the knife towards the rest of the group threateningly.

"You're all fucking nuts if you think I'm cutting my face to save any of you!" She screamed manically, "I can feel the scar on the inside of my mouth. That's bad enough, but now you want me to cut my face? I'd rather die than look like a freak!" And began to flail the scalpel threateningly. Rosie yelled angrily and launched herself on Sofia in an attempt to grab the knife. Sofia screeched, throwing Rosie off of her and slicing her arm. The girl with feathery blonde short hair screamed as she was sprayed in blood next to her.

"Don't touch me!" Sofia screamed, "You think I'm going to save any of you? I've only just met you." In the room, The Riddler raised his eyebrow in surprise.

"She'd sooner die and take several girls with her than inflict the most cosmetic of wounds?" He asked in surprise. The Scarecrow chuckled besides her.

"Dismorphophobia." He began, "Is a complex, yet petty phobia affecting 1-2% of the population of America. Sofia Falcone had a nose job at the age of thirteen at the request of her father, the now defunct Carmine Falcone. Apparently, he wanted to hide the evidence that his mistress wasn't the Italian he told everyone that she was. The surgery left her with severe body issues and a fear of ugliness in a poor attempt to be the trophy daughter that he thought he deserved. You know the woman's twenty three yet she's had fifteen surgeries? That, coupled with a materialistic and spoiled upbringing has led her to distance herself from what she deems to be ugly people."

"And that's why she's here?" The Riddler enquired in astonishment, "Because you want her to be cured of this fear?"

"Oh no." Scarecrow rejected simply, "She's here because of the Charity Bell heist. The only one to dare testify against me and Catherine. She was quite rude towards her as well, believed she was below herself because...and I quote, "She's so short like some disgusting dwarf and she needs to discover straighteners." Nygma stifled a snigger. The daring to testify was bad enough, but Nygma knew Crane would be furious at the slight at Cat. Despite appearing quite distant when it came to Cat, he nevertheless could be protective of her. Edward's memory whirled back to the first time he had met Catherine Adams. Her hair was bushy and her face was covered in cuts and teen acne, yet the way Jonathan had looked at her you would have thought that a goddess walked the Earth. Nygma shook his head inwardly. The man had kidnapped a collection of women whom he felt had offended her, yet he was now less than worried about her being incarcerated in Arkham, and reportedly, not in the best mental state. Psyche and Scarecrow's relationship was surreal indeed.

"So why punish these women instead of rescuing your...er...partner from prison?" He asked in bewilderment.

"My my girls, you have minutes left and all you can do is attack each other? And people wonder why I believe humans to be such a waste of time." Scarecrow sneered into the microphone, pointedly ignoring Nygma. "Shame really, the answer to survival is right there and yet, you will not seize it. Such a shame to end such short lives." He finished sarcastically. In the room, some girls like Rosie, Lisa, the short haired girl and a girl with curly red hair were now pressed up against the wall in a vain attempt to hide from the inevitable shower of bullets. Others however, including Chloe, were surrounding Sofia, determined to survive, all trying in vain to snatch the scalpel from Sofia's hands.

"Please Sofia! Let us do it, we won't give you that much of a scar, you can just cover it up with make-up! PLEEASSE!" But Sofia would not relent, not even when the clock ticked down to one minute remaining.

"No, do you think I'll help you? You're all ugly! You're all ugly and you want me to be ugly! You wouldn't dare! You wouldn't d...

**BANG**

All screaming in the room stopped. Even Crane and Nygma dropped the glasses they were holding or the thoughts that they were lost in to look at the screen with open mouths.

Chloe screamed at the sight before her. Sofia stood with a shell shocked expression on her face, but a hole in the middle of her forehead. A hole, which gushed with blood. Her pupils widened, but then blew out and she collapsed on a heap on the floor. All the girls turned slowly, looking up in horror. Lisa was swinging off one of the guns on the wall. Even though the guns were set to go off in seconds, they could be handled manually before the time. Lisa stared at Sofia's body in horror. Chloe shuddered, how could a girl who was so frightened be capable of murder?

"The clock's still going!" Screamed Rosie, pointing up at the sports clock, indeed, still ticking down.

"Somebody do something!" The red haired girl screamed, yet still remained rooted to the spot. All girls continued staring at Lisa, who in turn, let go of the gun and slid down.

"I...I..." She stuttered from the floor, tears streaming from her eyes.

"THE CLOCK!" The blonde haired girl screamed, running up to Sofia's bleeding corpse and snatching the scalpel up. As quick as lightning, she slashed Sofia's cheek violently, over and over again.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" She screamed over and over again, slashing like a madwoman. Unearthing the chip, she pulled it out with such force that her fingers pierced the rest of the mouth and almost snatching out her tongue. All the girls remained frozen to the spot. Either in horror at Sofia's body, or transfixed on the weeping Lisa. She seized the key card and jammed the chip in it, swping it through the device on the door.

All the women held their breath. With a few seconds left, would they survive? Had it worked?

The door swung open, much to everyone's relief.

"Ah, Drucilla Fischer." The Scarecrow announced on the loudspeaker, "I must congratulate you on taking the initiative. You too Miss Whedon. I never knew either of you had it in you to think...ah...outside the box I must admit, I'm impressed..."

"Don't kid yourself Crane." Snapped Dru savagely, "I'll never think like you."

"whatever." Crane hissed on the loudspeaker, "Your next challenge awaits. Please go through the door to the next challenge, you have five minutes before I unleash my gas."

All the girls stood up heavily and trudged out, no cries, no screams. A fatalistic attitude hung over them heavily.

"Come on Leese." Chloe gently urged, pulling the girl up, who was silently weeping. "It wasn't your fault. You saved us, you saved us all." She held Lisa in a tight hug as again, they left the deserted room together.

* * *

Nygma turned to Crane with a smirk.

"So all these girls are here because they disrespected you and Cat right?" Crane looked at him, his eyes narrowing from behind his mask.

"What about it?"

"Oh nothing Jonathan. Though I just thought that it was illogical that you don't care that your beloved is currently comatose and languishing in Arkham, yet you go to the trouble of kidnapping eight women who I'm guessing, insulted Catherine one way or another."

"And me." Jonathan retorted bitterly.

"Though mostly Cat." Nygma countered. Jonathan growled at Edward, before focusing his attention back on the monitor.

"Looks like all rules are out the window now." He said coldly. Nygma sighed at this. Whatever was happening between Crane and Catherine, it was certainly a mystery to him.

**Yey, third chapter up! It's been a busy week guys, turned 21, ran the Great North Run and moved back to uni to start third year. No rest for the wicked huh?**

**And yep, Cat's involved in the plot! I'm sorry I couldn't tell you guys before, I didn't want to ruin the link I decided on. You'll learn over each chapter why each girl is there, and it gets quite bloody from here, hence the M rating. Always knew The role Cat played in this, you have no idea how awful i felt with each review annoyed that Crane didn't feel anything for Cat PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

**LOL anyway, hope you enjoyed this offering. As always, REVIEW**

**Artemis out **

**xxxxx**


	4. Social Phobia

**Time for some character development! Thanks for all the reviews so far! This chapters dedicated to Horse whisperer for asking me to include her own OC (Who's the girl with the Riddler hat? It's a fantastic series, I suggest you read it) and Decepti-Kitty, hope this makes you feel better honey xxxxxxxxx**

**Social Phobia**

"You know Jonathan." Nygma chuckled, unwrapping yet another Ferrero Roche and popping it in his mouth, "I'm impressed you've managed to...ah...acquire so many girls and not attract the attentions of our trying common foe." Behind his mask, Crane rolled his eyes.

"Nygma." He said shortly, "We all know the contribution you gave tonight! I'm not going to cater to your ego by recognising the trail for the bat."

The Riddler growled. Jonathan Crane never recognised when he contributed. Come on, if it wasn't for Nygma, the annoying Dark Knight would surely turn up and ruin their fun. That is, if it wasn't for Edward's absolutely brilliant trail of riddles which was currently leading Batman on a merry goose chase around half the banks and empty warehouses around Arkham. Yes, if he had Shyera with him at this moment in time, she'd be blown away at his ingenuity at getting rid of the Batman. Crane had to be annoyed that it had been The Riddler to sort out the Batman and not him. Yes, that was definitely it.

Unlike the first task, travelling to the second task involved walking down a long, dark corridor. As a result, nobody was very keen to go in front, everybody could see their greatest fear in the dark as an effect of the gas, all hearts were racing, but they weren't going to reveal what it was. Chloe could sense the dread in the air, but what could she do? There was no way she was going to take charge of the situation in its present state, damn fear gas. Her mind whirled back to her conversation with Crane.

_Chloe held the pad on her lap, this was her sixth meeting with Dr. Crane and he was definitely as enigmatic as they said. At first, he had been quite closed down to her, but soon began talking when she quoted his latest published research._

_ "Tell me, you claim that you broke Catherine Marie Adam's mind, but ultimately cured her of her irrational fears. What's the difference between that and completely destroying her?" She challenged. Crane's latest piece of research was highly controversial (as per usual), drawing on the experience of his last high profile kidnapping of some English tourist (who had been rescued by the police but had ultimately died on the way to being reunited with her family. Psyche had come forward a few weeks later to claim responsibility for the girl's death for daring to escape captivity). Many had found it offensive to the dead girl. Chloe on the other hand had devoured it. Crane had been quite surprised at her enthusiasm over the subject, raising an eyebrow sleekly._

_ "Such a violent case study for one so young. What possible fascination could you have with that case study. I'd have thought the study of kidnap victims wouldn't appeal to...ah...one such as you. I would have thought child psychology really." Chloe felt herself blush furiously._

_ "Why Dr. Crane, I'd never have put you down for someone to generalise people." She retorted, trying to keep up her professional tone up, but failing miserably. This anger simply amused Crane even more._

_ "Child, if you don't want people to underestimate you and assume the worst, I wouldn't wear the skirt."_

_ Chloe blushed harder. Why had she worn a skirt? She had a perfectly professional pants suit back at her student digs, where did the skirt come from? Ah. Of course, she wore this to her parent's bedside at the hospital. Well, at least they died satisfied._

_ "I don't always wear skirts Dr. Crane, I just thought this would make a change..."_

_ "I'm not disputing you for wearing a skirt Miss. Mandelson." Crane countered, "My partner wears skirts all the time. However, she doesn't exude such a feminine aura..."_

_ "That's not a very educated observation!" She almost snapped. "I've read the papers and seen Elizabeth Griffin, the purple boob tube hardly gives off feminist vibes..." He continued on as if Chloe hadn't spoken at all._

_ "Like she doesn't wear a pink silk shirt or highlight her hair blonde to make herself appear more feminine. She doesn't need to try. She's a natural woman. Judging by your style and age, it is clear to me that you have feminised yourself. Made yourself appear more delicate as not to scare any potential future employer. You're dressed up like a girl, your stance however, it's too unrefined to be a perfect posture. Tell me, why are you scared to be yourself?"_

Chloe supposed that his words had had an effect on her that day. Turning away from Crane's cell, she ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair and sighed. He was right. Chloe had never felt right with her life. Born to a Conservative family in Philadelphia, Mr and Mrs. Mandelson had never approved of their daughter in general. Firstly, she was a tomboy instead of the dainty ballerina they had always wanted, then, in high school, she had preferred to listen to Seether rather than join the cheerleading squad. It wasn't just that though, she knew her dad's main gripe against his daughter was her open mindedness to the world. Mr Mandelson always saw his life as the paragon of a perfect way of living and everybody else was wrong. This narrow mindedness extended to alternative ways of living. Chloe shuddered at the memory of one particular argument.

_"Why don't you ever bring a boy home you dyke?" He snapped at her. He'd never had boys and wanted someone to treat like a son. "Is that why you never bring anybody back? Carpet eater are we?" Chloe snapped._

_ "No. I'm not a lesbian." She screamed, "And even if I was, what does it matter? I'd still be me."_

_ "No you wouldn't you little freak, you'd be dead to me and you'd have to get the fuck out of this house. Now, are you a dyke or not?"_

_ Chloe felt like screaming yes, just to piss him off. Yes and she'd enjoy seeing his mind blow. She couldn't though, she had nowhere else to go._

_ "No." She said truthfully, "No, I'm straight."_

_ "So actually put some make up on your face and quit acting like a butch lesbian." He had snapped back._

_ Chloe ran her hands through the tawny streaked hair which she had grown after that argument and stopped cutting it. She hadn't felt this awful, not after the car accident. Not after visiting her parents in hospital, not even at the funeral. Why had Crane's words had such an effect on her?_

_ Passing the rest of the cells, she forgot about the red haired man who was still stood waiting for her, tears threatening to fall. Out of the blue, as she passed another glass screen, she heard a voice sing softly_

_ "What kind of father would hate his own daughter, if she were gay?" Chloe's head snapped up sharply, but her feet refused to stop until she was out of the building. As a result, she only briefly glimpsed a flash of long, curling brunette hair. _

"_You've changed your hair colour."_

_ Jonathan Crane put down the psychology text book and looked up to Chloe who was standing before his cell screen. Her eyes widened in shock. Did this man have x ray vision with those glasses of his?_

_ "It suits you." He stated cordially. Chloe smiled. Indeed, as soon as she had left Arkham, she had marched into the first hairdressers and dyed her hair back to her original light brown colour. It had been a shock seeing her natural hair colour for the first time in...well, forever._

_ On the way there, she had stopped by two cells. Firstly, she had sought to find the red haired man who had made her feel much better than Crane had done. She was disappointed however to see that the cell was empty. She also sought (out of some morbid interest), the prisoner who had sung to her the day before. Again, she was disappointed to see that her cell was empty. As a result, she was back in front of Crane's cell sooner than she would like._

_ "Thank you Dr. Crane. Today, I'd like to talk about..."_

_ "You should be grateful I'm here today, there was a breakout last night, such a shame that crossword obsessed fool used the escape route I had planned."_

_ "One inmate broke out?" She asked, confused. Surely two had broken out? There were two prisoners missing._

_ "Well, two were meant to break out, but my dear acquaintance used our plans to escape instead."_

_ "Was that the redheaded man?" She asked. She couldn't believe it, she was getting to have a conversation with the infamous Dr. Crane, even if it was only because he was clearly furious. He looked at her mutinously._

_ "That's the one..."_

_ "But two cells are empty." She interrupted, "I saw a female prisoner with long dark hair yesterday, but I couldn't find her. Did she escape with him?"_

_ "Oh no, she's in solitary confinement." He answered simply, though Chloe could have sworn that she saw his eyes light up. "She wasn't best pleased that her escape had been scuppered, so I'm afraid she's been taken upstairs to cool off." Chloe's eyes widened._

_ "You and her were meant to escape last night?" She exclaimed, "So that means that she's..."_

_ "My associate Elizabeth Griffin. Yes." Crane agreed, "Though I'm assuming you've read my file so you know who she is?" She nodded, "Shame, I'm always telling her to control her temper better. What does she do when she realises that she's not escaping that night? Attacks the orderly who brings her her medicines. Of course, she knows not to take those pills, but I do wish she wouldn't protest in such an overt manner."_

_ "That's awful!" Chloe whispered. Inwardly, her head was spinning. She had seen Psyche without her mask on? Nobody saw her without her mask and lived to tell the tale. If only she had stopped. Crane shrugged, as if bored._

_ "She'll live." Crane muttered. "She needs to calm down when she doesn't get her way. May have to remind her of that tonight..."_

_ "How can you see her if she's in solitary confindement?" She interrupted. Crane raised an eyebrow._

_ "I have my ways." He replied silkily, clearly enjoying this conversation too much...hang on..._

_ "You're just toying with me aren't you?" Chloe sighed. Arkham had warned her that Crane had a habit of twisting the conversation to any scenario he wanted. He smirked._

_ "Like shooting a sitting duck."_

_ "Is any of what you've said true?" She asked, feeling her face burn in humiliation. _

_ "Maybe, maybe not." He countered, "My my, looks like somebody hasn't read my file thoroughly enough" Chloe swayed a little, feeling the tears begin forming. She was back talking to her dad...back being lectured by her dad..._

_ "Why fear defeat?" Crane asked, eyebrows raised at the grown woman beginning to cry, just because he had been mean to her. "It's not becoming for a grown up."_

Yes, that day had started the longest 3 months of her life. Chloe shuddered. If she had admitted that she was defeated and asked for a new placement, if she hadn't tried to impress him by confronting her fear, would she be here now? Chloe closed her eyes, flashing herself back into the present. The group had now arrived at the door.

"Well..." Rosie stuttered, putting her hand on the door handle gently.

"Let's try and survive this." Dru whispered squeezing another girl's hand tight.

"Lets all try and get out alive." The girl whispered.

Chloe was about to say something, when she heard something on the other side of the door.

"What was that?" She squeaked, a sense of dread clutching at her throat. All the girls practically stopped breathing to listen.

"Oh god." Rosie whispered, all colour leaving her cheeks, "Oh please be just the gas."

"Get ready ladies." The Riddler announced, appearing on a TV above the door, "You may be able to guess what's on the other side now. But humour me, riddle me this."


	5. Cynophobia: Fear of Dogs

**Cynophobia: Fear of Dogs**

"_Three headed keeper of death_

_Forever your best friend_

_Sometimes I'm more loved than your fellow man._

_Beware however_

_For I can offer you the hand of obedience,_

_Or bite off your own._

_What am I?"_

None of the girls needed to answer that. They could all hear what was on the other side of the door. Rosie withdrew her hand and backed away sharply.

"No." She whispered, "No no no NO NO NO NO NO!" until she was simply screaming. The eighth girl caught her shoulders, looking at her with a pleading look.

"Please Rosie." She whispered, "Please be strong! You're not Sofia." Rosie shook harshly.

"B...but you don't understand." She whimpered, "On that side of the door, is...is..." Chloe stepped forward to put her hand on the handle.

"It'll be alright Rosie." She promised, "Don't let your fear dictate your life...none of us will survive if we do!" Rosie looked at her shakily, saying something that struck Chloe to the core.

"You sound like him." She alleged quietly. All the girls gasped and spun round to see how Chloe would react. Chloe shook. How could she tell them? How could she even begin to tell them that they were right?

"Err...I'm just a psychology student." She mumbled, "Training to help people with their anxieties is just a part of the package...You know?" All the girls save Lisa looked at her harshly for a moment, but accepted this. After all, they were all linked to Crane some way.

"Come on." The Hispanic girl urged again, "We won't get hurt this way! It's only fear." Rosie looked at her mutinously, all traces of the intelligent girl slipping away.

"That's all very well for you to say...Zara Torro. Oh yes, I know who you are and why you're here." She yelled accusingly, stepping back from the door as if it was on fire, "So don't any of you go telling me I can get through this! That's not your fear on the other side of the door."

"My dears." Scarecrow's sarcastic voice echoed as he appeared on the screen, "You will all face your fears and more tonight. For now however, I must suggest you enter the room . They'll ah...get annoyed at your absence and we'll never be able to calm them down. They'd even break down the door to meet you."

"Come on." Dru commanded, taking the handle and marching through. The rest followed, time to meet their fate.

"This Drucilla Fischer." The Riddler smiled, sipping his third glass of fine wine, "She seems ballsy." Crane rolled his eyes heavily.

"Ballsy is one word, she has no idea on when to stop. During the University Physics award ceremony, me and Catherine teamed up with the Joker and Harley. Wanted our assistance to kidnap a scientist who had just created a machine which could use sound waves to level a building to the ground. Well, that sort of slack cutting corners planning appealed to the Clown. Anyway, me and Psyche were to provide the...ah...distraction. Every person in that room collapsed in sheer terror at out gas. Ms. Fischer on the other hand, well she was most unco-operative, decided to fight her fear head on..."

"And she attacked Cat perchance?" Nygma finished, rolling his eyes. Again, back to Catherine. Always rolled his eyes back.

"No actually, she attacked me." He growled, but switched to a whisper for the next bit, "She...ah...knocked me out cold." Luckily, owing to his mask, Nygma was unable to see him blush furiously.

"And our enigmatic and fighting Psyche didn't deign to attack back?" He mused, drinking in the hilarity of the image playing out in his head. Crane picked up on this and snarled.

"The Bat arrived. That's why she didn't _deign _to fight as you so charmingly put it." Nygma didn't fail to see the deadly look in his host's eyes from under the mask, "She was busy trying to take him down before he threw her into a wall. Hence, we ended up back in Arkham that night, and we both know how she feels about Arkham...don't we Edward?"

Nygma shuddered at the memory from under a year ago when he had taken Crane and Cat's plan for an escape. He had never liked Crane's choice of a partner before. He liked her even less after that.

* * *

Barking. Loud, thunderous barking filled the ears of all seven of the girls. Some, such as Rosie shrunk back. Others like Lisa and Zara smiled despite themselves.

Dogs. Savage, monstrous Rottweiler's snarled on the other side of the long, thin room. The chains that bound them to the walls looked electrical and easy to break. One thing was for sure though. They sure as hell looked pissed.

"The fruit of a man's labour,

Or that of a spear wielding warrior queen,

I live inside you,

Though most judge me by what you wear on your sleeves.

What am I?""

Chloe looked around. This riddle was obvious, why wasn't anybody getting it. She looked to Lisa, Lisa who'd answered the mirror riddle before she had. Surely Lisa had gotten this? No, she was watching the dogs with some morbid, probably accidental fascination. Like one watches a car crash and doesn't help. None of the others had gotten it either. That much was clear.

"Strength." She breathed out, barely a whisper. The Riddler caught her on the monitor however, even above the atrocious barking.

"Who said that?" He demanded over the monitor, "Step forward. Who got that?" Chloe tiptoed into the eyeline of one camera built into the wall and waved her hand in front of it.

"Hello Mr. Nygma." She said dumbly. How exactly do you address a man who has put you in a room with several snarling dogs? In the room, Nygma gasped. It was her. It was the intern from months ago.

* * *

_"Be careful child!" He had warned. She hadn't heard though. She hadn't heard and now she was travelling down to interview that bony, worthless-so-called..._

_"Careful Edward." A voice crooned dangerously in the cell next to him, "I know what you're thinking."_

_Nygma shuddered. He kept trying to forget that he had Catherine in a cell next to him, but every time he tried, she always knew and would begin talking (or singing in that shrill, showy off voice of hers) in that cold, fake English accent. He threw a disgusted look at the wall which she was behind._

_"I am regarded by some as noble. Others, I am the embodiment of the family clan. Beware however, I am the downfall of cities and empires. That's your problem Psyche. And right now, whatever you think I was thinking, you could not be more wrong..."_

_"Well, I can tell that you're thinking a mixture of things, though mostly annoyance. Just like a toddler because somebody else's playing with a toy it wants really." She sneered, "But...what's this? Sudoku has a crush?" Urgh, why did she insist on that annoying nickname for him? Nygma snarled, despite knowing how uncouth it was to do, when it came to Crane's concubine, it didn't matter how he acted._

_"Don't call me that __**Catherine**__."_

_"You shut your mouth Nygma." She snarled back, dropping her false queenly accent and reverting back to her actual, much rougher variant, "Don't you fucking call me that!"_

_"Why Elizabeth?" Riddler mused, enjoying the reversal in roles, "Nervous are we? Scared the guards might be listening?"_

_"The guards? Nah, they'd just think you were sprouting nonsense...like usual really."_

_"Bitch." He spat. She carried on regardless though._

_"But Scarecrow's new chew toy? This may shock you Sudoku, but most of Jonathan's fan girls actually research his very long and very detailed career. I've known so many so called "Mistresses of Fear" who are able to reel off his entire resume of victims. Somehow, I think Catherine Adams would come up at some point. Don't you Nygma? And after that, think of the effort...and the paperwork." She reeled off the last part of this rant by deepening her voice and pretending to be fed up._

_"You're so funny." He said sarcastically. He heard a soft giggle on the other side of the wall. _

_"Why thank you, I always try my hardest for you. Anyway, yeah, if any of the fan girls get a whiff of who I am, we could end up with another Torro incident..."_

_"And that's my problem how?" He asked, his emphatic tone glazed with poisonous sarcasm._

_"Because." She snarled again, "If I end up doused in petrol again because this...whatever she's called, figures out who I am because of your big mouth, then I'll make sure you're locked in the room with me."_

_"If that plan's at all feasible." He sneered at her attempt to square up to him. Something she had said struck a chord however._

_"You think she's another fan girl? Just because she's come to interview him?"_

_"It's a possibility." She answered, "Depends how she comes back from the first meeting really." Edward frowned._

_"I beg your pardon?" This only resulted in an exasperated sigh from the other side of the wall._

_"Simple really. It all depends how this first meeting will go." She repeated slowly in a shrill, patronising voice, "If she's in tears, she's a fangirl..."_

_"How do you kno..."_

_"He'll ignore them." She answered quickly, "He always ignores them on the first meeting. Let's the professionals try and get their crappy, half baked diagnosis, also lets him get a proper analysis of them. If she leaves annoyed, she's a professional who didn't get the meeting she wanted because he was quiet. If she's in tears, she's a fan girl who didn't get an interview with the Casanova of the century."_

_"You think anyway." He said bitterly. She was always pulling this psychology claptrap on him. "Just because you apparently sleep with a psychologist, doesn't mean you're right."_

"_And judging by the tone in your voice, you're hoping she's not a fan girl because you'd...ah, what's the phrase? Oh yeah. So do her." The sarcasm poured from her mouth freely now._

"_I would not 'so do her.'" He practically barked, "I just happen to appreciate her ability to answer my riddles, that's all..."_

_"Of course it is." She scoffed._

_"I appreciate it more than Crane will anyway." He finished, ignoring her. He could practically see her roll her eyes on the other side of the wall._

_"of course, only you'd appreciate that quality in a girl." She sneered._

_"And what of your qualities make Crane want to keep __**you **__around?" He snapped, "Your sparkling conversation?"_

"_Oh, looks like she's had enough of being ignored." Cat announced, noting the quick footsteps coming their way. "Let's see if she'll come back."_

_They both watched, the girl with highlighted hair walk past their cells, an annoyed look on her face. Nygma stood up straight, ready to console the new(admittedly, rather stunning) intern, but to his disappointment, she stalked past him looking more annoyed than anything else._

_"Oooh, tough luck Sudoku." He heard that infuriating woman cackle besides him. "Though if it's any consolation, next time you get out of here, track her down. You have a chance there."_

_"I beg your pardon?"_

_"She. Is. Not. A. Fan girl." She repeated slowly, as if addressing a retarded child, "She isn't upset at being ignored, just pissed. Believe me, you can usually spot them. Mostly because most come to my cell afterwards and bang on the glass...good thing I know Hush or most of them would twig I've lived out their fantasy and they haven't...yeah, wouldn't want that happening..."_

_"Will you please get off you?"Edward snapped exasperatedly, "And put your psychology into practise. How do you know she isn't another...er...fan girl?"_

_"She was nervous going to see him, but not nervous in a school girl/hot teacher kind of way, she really didn't know him. I could literally smell the fear of the unknown...couldn't you?"_

"_Whatever you say Elizabeth." He muttered. He heavily doubted she could really read emotions like she claimed, but he couldn't contradict her._

_"If she does come back tomorrow, if Hannibal and I are still here, then she may get drawn into the flame. Depends how she caters to his ego really."_

"_You've just missed her." Cat informed him in an American accent as he was escorted back to his cell and passing hers. She didn't look up, just continued to examine a long, disfigured finger as her passed. She was sat cross legged on her bed, her long, curling hair cascading freely down her shoulders._

_"Who?" The guard holding Edward's right arm asked her suspiciously. Continuing to examine her finger, Cat smiled._

_"Lady Gaga of course, Sudoku here has quite a crush on her. Always telling me 'Lizes, if Gaga ever turns up I hope I get to meet her.' That's what he's always telling me. Though I'm sorry Edward, she only came to visit me. Wants me to appear in her next video don't you know?" She smirked sardonically. This annoyed the guard to his left._

_"Shut it Griffin. One more word out of you and I'll stick you in the cooler for a week. Got it?"_

_"Crystal generalissimo Cash." She muttered, saluting him._

_When he was back in his cell and the guards had left, he heard Cat turn over in her bed to face the wall between them._

_"How is old Lolita?" Her heard her ask cheerfully, dropping the American accent and returning to her English one. Nygma felt his blood boil instantaneously._

_"Don't you __**DARE **__think of Shyera like that." He spat. He hated it when Cat compared his 'adopted' daughter to the slutty child from Nabov's novel. Damn Catherine Adams. She was too much like her mentor, they both knew how to push his buttons._

_"You know, you've been obsessing about the new intern for the past four sessions, you could just work your magic on old Shyera, she looks like you, it'd be like doing yourself..."_

_"Shut it. Shut it now." He snarled. On the other side of the wall, Cat snickered. Her fun was done._

_"Just as well, him and me are leaving in the next two days." She said idly, the creak on the other side of the wall told Nygma that she was stretching out on her bed._

_"You do realise you've been saying that since the intern arrived right?" Nygma yawned at her. It had happened, Psyche had cracked and was now a broken record. From behind the wall, he heard Crane's concubine cackle._

_"Tomorrow night it goes down Edward. Wanna know how?"_

_She walked by again. Edward saw her walk towards that quack for the sixth time. He heard that bitch laugh in her cell._

_"Oh today." She sang, "Today he'll start talking to her." Nygma growled._

_"How do you know?" He snapped angrily. For five sessions now, he had been forgotten by the most elegant woman in Arkham for a lifetime. All her attentions were focused on Crane for some reason ("Cheer up Sudoku." Cat had told him, "It's not you personally, she's just got her target and now she wants to get it. Afraid you're just another Arkham loon to her."). He groaned, most psychologist s came to interview either Crane or the Joker. It was a prize of psychology to have a taped interview or even a transcript of a meeting with either of the two (and live to tell the tale). No one ever wanted to interview Nygma for some reason. He had no idea why, he was without doubt the most intelligent and more brilliant criminal of the three. No, nobody seemed to appreciate his brilliance, only Shyera. Which was all well and good to have your daughter think of you as brilliant, but Nygma would love the same recognition the clown and the quack had gotten. God, she was beautiful._

_"What have they been doing all this time?" He demanded out loud. The girl looked intelligent, why did she keep coming and leaving with that annoyed look on her face?_

_"Telling each other riddles and conundrums." Came the sarcastic reply, "Jealous much?" That caused Nygma to smile._

_"No, but they're talking to each other now. How does that feel Cathy? To know Jonathan's with someone who's not you, all you get with him is half an hour at dinner. Heard they shifted the rec room rota so you'll never see each other. And now he's talking to another person who isn't..."_

_He heard an angry bang on the wall and a small scream. He smiled, Cat had punched the wall._

_"Touch a nerve?"_

_"I hate you." He heard her hiss. That caused him to smile._

_"Believe me Libby, the feeling is more than mutual." He smiled evilly. Thank goodness she couldn't see his smile, or her mentor._

_The footsteps came again. The footsteps always came at the end of each session, she always looked annoyed professionally. As much as he hated to admit it, Psyche was right. In the intern's mind, he no longer existed. It was all about that damned sociopath._

_She passed him. He drank in her highlighted hair, the curve of her long legs, all the way up to her...face. Her shell shocked, wide eyed face. She was walking fast, not sure whether or not to cry. The sociopath had begun talking, and he had upset probably the most intelligent person to pass through Arkham since him. On the other side of the wall, he heard the bed creak. Cat had gotten up to join in Crane's game._

_"What kind of father would hate his own daughter, if she were gay?" She was singing. He saw the intern's head turn, noticing Elizabeth Griffin for the first time. Noticing her but not him. He watched her notice him and then watched her walk away. As the door slammed, he banged his fist on the wall angrily._

_"What. The hell. Was that?" He snarled angrily. The wall giggled manically._

_"Never heard of Pink?" She asked sweetly. "I do so love Dear Mr. President, and so...so apt for dear Chloe."_

_"What relevance has that got with the intern!" Chloe. Her name was Chloe. He heard her chuckle._

_"Oh, everything. She so represents that line." She sang in a shrill, sing song voice. _

_"Tell me how you know her name's Chloe! What's her surname?" His mind was racing, what a divine enigma, the full name of the intern. How dare someone as unworthy as Catherine Adams have the answer! How dare she be more than his equal..._

_"It's quite a simple answer Edward." She crooned, "One which I'm afraid I'm too tired to divulge right now. I need sleep before me and Hannibal execute tonight's plans." And with that, a creak and a false, very loud yawn pointedly told him that he would not get the answer from her tonight. If at all._

_It was midnight in Arkham. Edward Nygma was stood at the foot of his bed waiting. Catherine's plan was simple, use explosives which an orderly (whom had fallen under her spell. No doubt as a result of the lip balm she had been lending from Pamela Isely every day in the rec room or exercise yard) had given her and then free Crane from his cell with the key codes she had doubtlessly obtained through the same means. When he could sense the out Catherine Adams fiddling with something in her cell, he knew it was time. Nygma smiled, Cat had thought that nobody knew just how she knew the same things as Crane when they were six cells apart, or even, how they had been found curled up (fully clothed) in the same bed one morning. Catherine Adams was cunning, but she had one flaw. She had always underestimated Edward Nygma._

_"I'll just take the explosive device hidden, blow myself and Hannibal out of his cell, and then we're on the home straight. This time tomorrow, I'll we'll be reunited in the open whilst you're still in here. Shame, with Lolita home alone and you stuck in here. However you do have self service, so I guess you'll survive." She had whispered to him through the wall. Oh, she had only told him so much, but he could figure the rest out easily. He was the Riddler._

_He'd show her. He'd teach her a lesson in manners she wouldn't forget._

_Hearing her dive under her bed for protection, he counted to ten and waited for the explosion to come. With a rumble and a bang, he allowed himself a split second of satisfaction before diving under the glass as his cell screen. The major design fault of all Arkham cells was that a large explosion in one cell made all the glass screens leap up a foot in the air before slamming down suddenly. Not enough time to get out if you noticed it from the other side of the cell, but if you were standing right by the bed as Nygma was, there was plenty of time to roll under. As he stood up, Cat was just exiting her own cell, stepping over the glass curtly and reciting the code to Crane's cell. She barely had time to raise her eyes from the floor when he seized her head and rammed it into the wall, not hard enough to smash her head in (and that was something he'd like, if only to avenge the insults she always threw at Shyera), but enough to knock her out cold. He picked up the body and dropped her, not exactly carefully on the bed and placed the note in her unconscious hand. Looking down at her coldly, he allowed himself a minute of anger before whispering to her:_

_"So the intern would want neither Crane nor me? Enjoy your victory Catherine, enjoy it right in this cell whilst I commiserate in the open." And with that, he turned and ran before the guards got there._

_Oh how he wished that he could stay and see her reaction when the guards revive her, or her face when she read his note. True, it was in felt tip (nobody in their right mind gave any of the rogues anything as sharp as a pencil), but the message got across all the same:_

"_I am regarded by some as noble. _

_Others, I am the embodiment of the family clan. _

_Beware however, I am the downfall of cities and empires_

_What am I?_

_I must thank you Psyche. Thank you for saving me from making the same mistake the Scarecrow did."_

_Oh yes, from the comfort of Shyera's hideout, he thanked Cat for telling him that this Chloe did not swing for men. At least he'd never become a fool like Crane. It was with some bittersweet satisfaction that he imagined Cat's infuriated scream in Arkham when she woke up._

_

* * *

_

She was there, in that room. Why on Earth was she in that room? He stared at the image on the screen. She was different to when he had last seen her. Her glorious blonde hair was gone, now a mousey brown and much longer. She still looked classy, but just different. Now in jeans instead of a skirt.

Chloe stared into the camera. The man, the man from Arkham, the man who had made her feel so at ease on her first day. He had recognised her. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? All that she knew, was that the rest of the group had now focused all of their attention on her, causing her to blush horribly. Why was all now silent?

In the room, Nygma withdrew his hand from the intercom and glared at his masked companion.

"Chloe Mandelson." He growled, the name rolling on his mouth unpleasantly. Crane's blue eyes twinkled innocently behind his mask, it was quite a terrifying notion.

"Yes?" Crane asked. His voice was unintentionally high, giving him the air of a naughty child which had been caught. This sinister display made Edward momentarily forget his anger and instead, be bowled over by a wave of ice cold dread.

"She...Ca...Cat...why is she here?" He choked, "She would never have tried to seduce you...she never did anything to you! You were the one to do it all to her! She never knew who Psyche wa...she was never interested in you! Why have you brought her here?" In his mind, Catherine's taunts swam around. It was not logical, why was she here?

"Ms. Mandelson knows why she's here. Maybe not at this moment in time, but she does know."

"Bu..but she doesn't want you! She would nev..." Scarecrow's head spun around sharply.f

"Why would you say that Edward?" He growled, his voice becoming more dangerous, "Is Jonathan Crane not handsome for any woman to want him?" Nygma unintentionally recoiled at the peril in the air.

"No Jonathan, that's not the case." "_Only Cat would want you, you worthless sack of bones. And even then, she's insane." He _thought bitterly in his head. "It's just...Torro, I can understand. But...hang on...did she try something with Cat?"

"What on earth are you babbling about Nygma?" He enquired, bored. Nygma blushed heavily, not quite believing what he was about to say.

"Did Chloe ever...ah...express an interest in Catherine?" He mumbled the next bit, "Intimately...after she was done interviewing you?" It couldn't be...yet it was the only logical explanation. From behind his mask, Crane raised an eyebrow.

"That would be pragmatically and semantically impossible Edward. I could insult you by revealing to you, in great detail, the evidence to show that Catherine is not that sort of woman. And as for Miss Mandelson, I would know if anything in her...ah...past, was to raise questions from the far right."

"But Catherine, she...she told me..." He suddenly stopped. She had been there the day he and Chloe had exchanged...She had sensed right away his interest...

"That hateful bitch." He snarled angrily, he was furious! How could such a woman always keep getting the upper hand on him?

"I will let that one slide." Crane muttered, his eyes shining with white hot rage, "as I can see that you are clearly...ah...not thinking logically."

"That bitch! She...she..." Never said anything explicit like what he had thought. It was only implied. Implied like always...

"She played you like a harp didn't she? Again." Crane smiled proudly from behind the mask. "And she played such a beautiful melody as well. She never fails to make me proud."

"Of course she didn't play me like a..." Nygma began, but was cut off by Crane.

"Oh yes, you knew exactly what you were doing when you took the escape route that she set up for you and knew that that escape route that night would only ever be suitable for one. You knew that Chloe Mandelson had just been approved by me to undergo my own therapy, but you still fled. You knew that when she noticed Catherine, she would remember you too, didn't you? You knew that but you chose to vilify her in your mind anyway to strip her from your memory. Didn't you?"

"I don't believe this!" Nygma practically screamed, "How could you two do this to me? I wanted her! That bitch knew..."

"You seem to be forgetting my dear companion." Crane yawned, "I am trained to destroy the mind. Catherine on the other hand, revels in twisting it, playing with it and completely warping it, all in my name. You always fall for her games, no wonder she never tires of it."

"That girl is here for my benefit?" Demanded Edward furiously. Crane rolled his eyes and sighed, Nygma was beginning to throw a tantrum now like a child, and this was something Crane really didn't have the patience for.

"I know right now, that you would not believe me if I told you this, but I was telling you the truth, Chloe Mandelson is not here for you. She is here on a much more important reason."

"And what is..."

"Girls." The Scarecrow announced into the microphone, "Take heed of what Ms. Mandelson has just pointed out. Indeed, this is a test of strength. As you can see, there are seven dogs. Each of these has been trained to recognise each of your voices and only the person who they have been trained to recognised from scent and voice training. Your task is to subdue them. I wouldn't suggest trying to do it physically of course." He chuckled, taking his hand off the intercom, he looked toward Nygma impatiently.

"That's your cue Edward." He whispered patronisingly, "I do riddles about as much as I do jokes." The Riddler looked at his cohort murderously.

"You're unbelievable." He whispered angrily. In his mind, he was panicking. He had just found the intern again, the first person in a long time who was worthy of answering his riddles and she was in a dangerous game he himself had helped create. Crane sighed heavily from behind his mask.

"If she's as good as we both think, then she'll survive this. Now, are you going to do your part?" Nygma snarled, something was going on and he wanted to know. But then again, what Crane had said was indeed logical. If she was worth as much as Edward had built her up to be, then she would get through this. One way to find out.

"I can be silver or meat.

You win no medals for lifting me in a competition.

Light as a feather, yet most cannot hold me.

What am I?

Answer this question girls and you'll possess the means to stop a very...hairy death." He chuckled. His laugh was hollow now however. For the first time, he began to worry. Scarecrow didn't seem to share in his anxiety however, whatever reason Chloe Mandelson (Nygma couldn't repeat her name enough in his head) was there, it must be important. Instead, Crane simply flicked the switch to begin the second blood round.

In the room, the chains which held the dogs mechanically snapped, releasing the giant Rottweiler's into a howling frenzy towards the terrified girls. They all screamed and pressed themselves up against the wall as the hounds hurdled towards them. Chloe screamed, tearing her face away from hers, she glanced desperately at the girls. Oh please somebody, know the answer to this riddle! There had to be an answer, there had to be a way out. She looked to Zara. Would Zara know the answer? That idea was quickly dismissed for that woman was backed completely into the wall, whispering: "It'll be alright, he wouldn't let any harm come to me! He's testing me...he's testing me..." Chloe groaned and carried on looking. Her eyes met Lisa's. Lisa, the other psychologist (from what she could gather), the other one to have studied Crane, the only other who could fathom what went through the minds of such as them. Riddles, what was the answer to this riddle? She peered at Lisa's round, plump face was creased with worry, but at least she was thinking.

"Chloe." She whispered fast, "What weighs nothing, but so few people can hold?" Chloe's mind raced back to one of the meetings with Crane, a month after he had begun talking. A month after the Riddler had officially left her life.

_"I've offended you." She was stuttering in panic. She had dared to cross the line this time, she had asked the forbidden, intimate question: What was the nature of his relationship with Elizabeth Griffin? She had crossed the line, Crane's mouth thinned and his eyes flashed furiously. She shook uncontrollably. She had failed. She had failed and she now saw her hard work vanish before her eyes. She heard her father's voice in her head._

_"You dumb bitch." He snapped from the grave, "You had to fuck it up didn't you? You couldn't even succeed with the crap you were capable of..."_

_"Ms. Mandelson." Crane said slowly, his mechanical and(unfortunately) prepubescent voice cold, yet with an edge of professional empathy, "Why are you afraid? Youmade a mistake, but why are you afraid of it?"_

_"I...I'm so sorry." She squeaked, "I didn't mean..."_

_"Yes you did. Don't apologise for what you mean..."_

_"But..."_

_"My dear, the tongue weighs practically nothing but so few can hold it. Do not fear me Chloe, in my current...ah...confindement, I hardly bare a threat." _

_That was the first time she hadn't felt stupid for making a mistake._

"The tongue!" She yelled. Lisa's eyebrows practically disappeared into her fringe.

"That's crazy..."

"It's the tongue!" She screamed, "We need to stop them by commanding the..."

"It makes no sense!" Lisa screamed, "Fuck, I hate riddles."

"SIT!" Chloe bellowed at the top of her lungs. All the girls forgot their terror instantaneously to stare at her in disbelief. It didn't matter to Chloe, the Rottweiller which formerly had its eyes intently set on her had skidded to a halt, halfway down the long room. Lisa was the first to notice this and screamed in the darkest and most powerful voice Chloe had heard, for her dog to sit. She was so unlike the Lisa who not so long ago was crying in fear. Chloe shuddered, for the first time that night she was scared by one of the girls. Like Chloe's, Lisa's imminent death skidded to a halt. Seeing this, all the girls began screaming the most banal of commandments that one gives to a dog. It was most surreal to see the commandments working for them all...bar one.

Rosie remained curled up in the foetal position on the floor. All the girls turned towards her and began to scream as the last dog bounded like a crazed demon towards its prey. Zara screamed, simpering at the terrified Rosie.

"It's a test Rosie! Look, Jonathan didn't let me die! He just wants some fun! Please say the words! My Johnny won't let you die! He's not like that..."

"Fuck off you deluded bitch!" Rosie screamed, "sit...sit..si" She tried commanding the dog to stop, but the words were lost in her throat. All the girls turned back round in horror as the last dog got closer...closer...closer...

"SIT!" All the girls shrieked in unison, hoping that their collective efforts would tame the beast. It didn't work. The dog leapt through the air and lunged on Rosie. All the girls screamed as the beast tore off Rosie's arm with a sickening rip. Blood sprayed everywhere, covering the girls who stood around desperately.

"For the love of god! Somebody help her!" Screamed the red haired girl. All looked at her dumbly, all caught in the paralysing grip of pure horror.

"She can't survive!" Zara screamed, "My master's decreed that she's not worthy!"

"Oh fuck you you fucking deluded twat!" Lisa snapped, diving on top of the huge beast, grabbing it in a bear hug, "CHLOE! HELP ME! AVOID ITS HEAD AND HELP ME!"

Chloe dived at the legs and pulled as hard as she could. A sickening crunch and a howling whimper told the girls that the dog's legs had been broken. Lisa snaked her arms around its neck and twisted herself to the side. Another screech from the animal and it moved no more. Lisa had broken its neck.

The two girls eased up slowly, drenched in blood. As they glanced at each other, the same question was on their lips. Was the blood they were drenched in their own? The dogs? Or Rosie's? They slowly looked down, fearful at what they were to find.

Rosie laid on the floor screaming, her right arm had been ripped clean off and now, blood cascaded out. Her stomach had been bitten and was now soaked and her remaining hand gripped at the chunk of throat which had been attacked. The rest of the girls looked to the other dogs fearfully, but they were merely stretched out on their backs...sleeping.

"Still fearing your death even though they're asleep?" Came Scarecrow's damaged voice from the speakers, "You do make me laugh."

"Cut the crap Crane!" Screamed Dru, "Rosie's still alive! She needs a doc..."

"My dear, I am a doctor and right now, my diagnosis is that I really couldn't care less. She failed the ta..."

"Please Dr. Crane!" Sobbed Chloe, "For the love of god! For what happened at Arkham! Please help her!" All the girls gasped at this revelation. Zara looked murderous.

"What happened at..."

"I cannot help her." Came Crane's reply, "However, if you so wish, you can carry her for the rest of the game. If any of you survive, I will allow you to take her to the hospital." Chloe bowed her head. That was the best she was going to get and she knew Crane well enough to know that.

"Ok." She whispered, crouching down. "Rosie? I'm going to pick you up, can you walk?" Rosie's anguished scream said no.

"Come on Rosie." Lisa whispered, joining Chloe on the floor, "You can do this. You're a cop after all. I'm sure you've been in this situation before...I've seen Reservoir Dogs, don't tell me you don't get injured on a mission."

Rosie laughed, Lisa and Chloe eased her up and let her lean on them as they began walking down the long corridor towards the door. To their surprise however, Zara stood in front of them.

"Hold it. I've got some questions." She snarled, "You two have been lording it over us since the start because you both do Psychology. What? That makes you better than us does it?" Lisa stared at her in disbelief.

"You're fucking kidding me right?" Chloe exclaimed, "I don't think I'm better than you! I was trying to get into my fucking apartment and then I get hit over the head and I'm here..."

"You know the riddles. They're utter bull! Only somebody who knows what's coming would know the answers..."

"I'm just good at riddles..."

"What the fuck happened at Arkham?" Zara screamed, "I went to Arkham and he wouldn't talk to me. Me! His mistress of fear! He wouldn't talk to me and he should! Wha makes you spec..."

"You're not his fucking 'Mistress of Fear'" Lisa snapped, pronouncing the last part with disgust, "His henchwoman's Psyche and even she doesn't call herself..."

"She doesn't mean anything. And she doesn't mean shit right now." Zara screamed, "I want to know why he talked to you and not me!"

"She's a fucking psychology student." Spat Lisa, "You get interviews with patients at Arkham as part of your training. You on the otherhand, I've seen you on TV. Stripping in public and announcing yourself as the new Mistress of Fear doesn't mean that he'll see you..."

"Did he talk to you to?" Demanded Zara obnoxiously, swelling up in te knowledge that she could bully shy and shrinking Lisa. Lisa however, stood her ground.

"Of course he did." She snarled, "How else do you think I wrote the paper that landed me in this mess?"

"AH HAH!" Zara screamed triumphantly, "The paper where you lied?"

"My god, I'm surrounded by idiots." Gasped Lisa before looking around around to a camera, "Congratulations Crane, you've put me with my worst fear...idiots..."

"Fuck you you fucking bitch." Snarled Zara, lunging at her, "You're both in on it aren't you? My Johnny's testing me with this and you two know what's going on. DON'T YOU?"

Dru grabbed Zara round her waist angrily. "You're the fucking nuts one around here!" She growled, "What the hell do you think is going on? Neither of them are Griffin! I've stared right into Elizabeth Griffin's eyes! Believe me, there's nothing there which would even consider helping Rosie like these two are. If anybody's the nuts one, it's you. Who else would go around calling themselves the 'Mistress of Fear?"

"Girls." Scarecrow's voice came again, "Such fear is driving you against each other...I like it." He chuckled, "But I'm afraid there is much more to come and I'm not a patient man. Now please continue before I release some good old fashioned zyclone B into the room."

Zara grinned triumphantly, "He wouldn't. He's calling my bluff..."

"Ms. Torro, if you insist on carrying on like some deranged and crazed child, I'll kill you right here and now." He spat over the loudspeaker. "Now, please cease this ridiculous school girl prattling and continue."

Zara gave the two girls a final glare. "I'm on to you two." She spat, before storming up the corridor, gingerly sidestepping the sleeping animals on the floor.

"Leessss...Ch...Chloe." Rosie gargled. She knew that she was dying, she was losing too much blood to survive. It hurt to breathe, she was losing it, but it was important somebody knew what she knew. "Elizabeth Griffin...you need to..to know..."

"What is it Rosie?" Chloe whispered. She had seen Rosie on the TV as well, the rising star of Gotham police department. And now, now she was in the arms of two strangers. Dying.

"Elizabeth Gr...Griffin. She's not really called Elizabeth Gr...Gri..."

"Rosie! Save your energy." Lisa whispered. Rosie was determind though. Two years of chasing and imprisoning Scarecrow and Psyche needed to amount to something.

"Her name's Catherine Adams." She choked, "She was...was one of Crane's...kidnap victims...I don't know how she did it but she returned to...to him after she was rescued. That's the reason why I'm..I'm here. I...tried...tried to reveal her identi...I've been a prisoner of the Scarecrow for weeks. I was going to...to go public with the...but he got me...he got me..."

"Shh, don't talk, save your energy." Lisa soothed. She looked to Chloe, "I think we need to go. If we survive, we might be able to save her." Chloe nodded and took Rosie's waist, stumbling towards the door.

* * *

Nygma looked towards Crane furiously.

"What did happen in Arkham?" He snarled, "I'm assuming your dear Cat told you of the...the exchanges we had? What went on between you two?" Crane didn't answer. All he said was:

"If Shyera was to be a participant in this game." He asked, "How would you react?" Edward's eyes widened.

"I'd rip your head off if you harmed my daughter." He snarled. Crane nodded.

"Even if it meant that she'd be a stronger person afterwards?" He pushed. Nygma snarled.

"I'd make sure she was protected from whatever you threw at her." He was furious at the suggestion that Shyera be involved in this. Crane smiled devilishly from behind his mask.

"Exactly." He paused for a minute, "How interesting. Tell me Edward, what's the difference between Shyera and any of these girls who'll die tonight?"

* * *

"You met him too?" Chloe asked, heaving the increasingly unconscious Rosie towards the door. Lisa smiled.

"Met him and Elizabeth...or Catherine. Whatever she calls herself. They like to play with you don't they?" She sighed. Chloe nodded. At last, someone who understood.

"Think that's she gave me all that information on their sex life. Think they just wanted another person in this game." She sighed, pushing the door open. "Hey! What the fu..."

The last part of the sentence was not finished however, as Chloe entered, carrying the rest of Rosie's body, they saw the rest of the girls prostrate on the floor, syringes sticking out of them. Lisa hardly had time to scream before the last of the needles shot the three of them two. Chloe yelped, feeling the darkness envelope her. Crane and Nygma's cruel laughter flooded her ears as she fell into oblivion.

* * *

**Phew! That took longer than expected. Okies, this is where the plot starts to form now to a story instead of just a random slasher. In answer to a few emails I've had, no, I haven't forgotten about Melinoe. This story is actually a future chapter of Melinoe if that helps :) Don't worry, could never forget Cat, but yeah, this is actually part of my sequel ;)**

**For all those who are confused/haven't read my previous story, Psyche is Catherine Adams, but also goes by the name of Elizabeth Griffin to the outside world (only Crane and the rest of the top villains know her true identity) after she faked her death to return to Crane because she didn't want her family finding out what she'd become. Call it the last 'sane' thing she did. Sorry about the confusion x**

**Right, next chapter may take a while. Need to knuckle down with uni work/ Teaching qualification applications/ Scholarship applications/ reading for my dissentation. But I'll be back, and I promise you, it's a rollercoaster of mess-with-your-mind psychology from here on out. And well done to those who guessed correctly,this is in fact a Riddler romance...with a difference lol (aka: expect no fluffiness and you won't be disappointed, this is a dark story here lol).**

**As always REVIEW!**

**Scarecrow fanlove and all that jazz**

**Artemis**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**ps: to the author of the final straw: thanks for the inspiration behind Zara Torro x**


	6. The Daughter and the Concubine

**The Daughter and the Concubine**

"You've gotten this far, and I must commend you. In fact, I should reward you. Come and get me Batman, I won't put up a fight." The young woman called to the caped man in front of her, stretching her arms out in a crucified pose. As he stepped forward however, she screeched in delight. "Of course, if you do, you'll miss out on defusing this bomb. Your choice Bats! Haul me back to Arkham or save this block...though either way, I won't tell you where the girls are." She smirked as she saw the conscience of the Dark Knight play across his face, and nearly beamed as she saw him decide that t would be better to rescue the building (and subsequently, the entire street outside) before following her.

"Good choice Batsy." She crooned, "I am a dream of man, but can be found in nature too. A safe passage for William and the home of monsters. What am I?" She gave no answer however, as she threw her right ankle crashing into her left and shot up through the open skyline. If the Batman remembered the riddle she gave at the last location, then he would be busy typing the answer into the bomb as she escaped. Then he'd waste time figuring out the next clue. It was genius really, masterminded by her boss and adopted father Edward Nygma. Keep Batman busy for the night, leading him on a merry dance around Gotham. What had made this more important for the girl, was that The Riddler had let her set up this night completely by herself. All the riddles were hers, the carefully positioned fake bombs...her father would definitely be impressed. At first, she had considered using actual bombs (she could certainly whip them up with her eyes closed), but she had quickly vetoed that in her mind. Edward had often said that Batman was his most worthy opponent, and so she had decided to keep the bombs for a special job, maybe one with her and Edward side by side. She smiled as she sailed into the sky, she, Shyera Nygma and The Riddler. She smiled to herself; there was no better feeling than anticipating the next job with him.

"Make me proud Shyera." He had declared to her that night, handing over the boots she wore on her feet now. Oh she would show him exactly what she could do, even if she was wearing something from her sworn enemy.

Shyera shuddered, scrunching her feet up in the too-big boots. She despised anything to do with the Scarecrow's concubine and that extended to the infamous rocket boots of Catherine Adams. She smirked to herself. Whilst she respected Jonathan Crane and had listened to Edward's sound advice that she should never give Crane any reason to take offense to her, his advice had never extended to the whore, and a good thing too.

"Why he's never shoved a pipe of that toxin down her throat I'll never know." She thought poisonously, reaching her hand down cautiously to make sure that the boots were properly strapped to her legs, she wouldn't have put it past Catherine to loosen the straps, even to something as precious to her as her rocket boots. She had to admit, she was amazed that Crane had given his permission for her to use something so associated with Catherine. Though if she remembered what the news had said, then Catherine was still in Arkham. Her mind whirled. Had Crane rescued her boots from the Arkham storerooms but not Catherine herself?

"Well well well, this is a development." She giggled. Had the good doctor finally tired of the bitch's presence? She remembered the first time she had met the woman, in the usual place one expected to see a crazy. At Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

* * *

_Before her father had come along, she had heard of Scarecrow and Psyche, and they were somebody she had been terrified to meet in a dark alley, yet when she had learned that they were in Arkham the same time as her, she was eager to meet the man Edward had called his almost equal and his associate, despite what he had said of Cat. _

_The Arkham rec room was a drab affair, just a large room consisting of a number of broken, leaking sofas scattered in a mish mash order all over, with one large gathering of green fabric sofas clustered around a small TV set. Edward took her arm and pulled her over to a single one in a corner of the room which was inhabited by two people. The man was incredibly tall, but also startlingly thin, his face looked as if it may have once held the potential of being quite attractive, but had become gaunt and skeletal with his hard life etched all over. He wore a pair of expensive looking glasses and was currently leaning back on the sofa arm with his hands behind his head, lost in a thick forest of black hair which gave him a sort of unintentional elegance. His eyes were closed, giving him an aurora of meditation. The other was a young looking brunette woman. She was much smaller than the man on the other side of her, not helped by the fact that her long hair cascading over her shoulders was impossibly thick, giving her the look of a tiny white child trying to be Diana Ross. She was much more animated than the man, lost in telling a story regardless of whether he was listening or not, punctuating the plot with erratic hand movements and general carefree laughs in all the right places, but keeping her voice low so only a soft hum could be heard in place of words. Shyera was quite shocked, of all the others in the room (some doing ballet twirls and others simply on the floor in the foetal position and crying to themselves), this couple seemed quite sane._

_Edward stopped in front of them and cleared his throat pointedly to get their attention. The woman stopped mid sentence, with her hands still suspended in the air. She glared at Edward, and then raised her eyebrows at Shyera questioningly. The man opened his eyes and even raised his hands off of the back of his head slightly._

"_And who is this Edward?" he had enquired, looking over his glasses analytically._

"_My daughter." Edward had said proudly "My daughter Shyera." Shyera beamed happily, there was no better noise than hearing Edward introduce her as his daughter, she never felt more relevant than when he did. The woman lowered her eyebrows and looked at her in the same manner one reads a book, her eyes darting all over Shyera as if drinking in all that she could._

_"Why Edward, when you worked at that fairground did you have your way with every teenager who came your way, or did you just knock up that one special fifteen year old?" She said sweetly to Edward (who locked his jaw) Shyera was shocked, not only at what she had just heard, but also, at the woman's accent. It wasn't like anything she had heard in all her years in Gotham. Her mind whirled trying to place a possible state, but failed. This woman was definitely not American. The man had not said anything, but had nodded in Shyera's direction cordially, apparently not caring about what the thing besides him had just said. Edward didn't seem surprised by the man's lack of care at the situation as he just leaned back to observe the situation, completely detached from Edward and the woman besides him (she would often wonder if he observed these situations and the Bitch's behaviour in longing for his old psychiatrist days). Edward glared hard._

_"If you must know __**Catherine.**__" He snapped, placing emphasis on her name, "This young lady is my adopted daughter, but no less, she is mine." Shyera saw Catherine's eyes quickly scan the immediate area before returning to her father, glaring hard._

_"The minute Arkham updates listening devices in here and you dare pull that crap is the moment you kiss goodbye to your teeth Edward." She snarled. Shyera felt an eruption of red hot rage boil within her. Without thinking, she stepped forward, her own teeth bared._

_"Say anything like that again." She spat, "And he won't be the one with their teeth smashed in. You get me?" She looked at the smile forming on Catherine's face, showing off a complete set of veneer caps. Yes, such expensive dentistry which she would happily smash in if she heard another threat made against Edward like that. A light laugh escaped from that fake mouth._

_"My my, such a fighter. You've taught her well." She laughed to Edward, not taking her eyes off Shyera, "She looks like you too. Tell me," She enquired suddenly, sweeping her big brown eyes over her eyes and long red hair, "Did you take her on because she looks like you, or is that just an accident?" Shyera growled angrily._

_"What's it to you?" She barked. This led to those eyebrows being raised again._

_"How old are you Shyera?" She asked simply, as if she hadn't spoken. Shyera looked at her suspiciously._

_"Eighteen."_

_"Hmm, I may be wrong, but where I come from, you can't adopt a child who's over eighteen. Or is that because you're not an adult till you're twenty one here? I'm afraid differences in British and American laws confuse me." Ah, so she was from Britain? _

_"Come now Sparrow, when have the laws of anywhere applied to any of us?" The man besides her asked, speaking for the first time. Shyera couldn't help but shiver at the coldness and general sarcasm conveyed in that drawling voice.. Catherine looked over to him and smiled._

_"Touché Jonathan." She smirked. She looked back to Shyera, no longer looking coldly at her, but smiled at her politely. "Well, welcome to the tenth circle of hell. Ignore what Edward just said, I'm Elizabeth, though better known as Psyche. And I'm sure you've heard of Jonathan here, even without the mask." Shyera's eyes widened._

_"You...you're Jonathan Crane and Elizabeth Griffin?" She gasped. So this was why Edward had introduced her to them. Edward had lent toxin off this man to drive her father insane with fear? The invention fitted the creator perfectly. She could not believe it; she was standing in front of the Scarecrow and Psyche! Psyche, the villain famed in Gotham for never taking off her white expressionless mask unless it was to kill you...and here she was in the flesh...and she was an utter bitch! Nothing like the terrifying figure from the news. Shyera's stomach dropped at the anti climax, like a child who finds the Christmas presents early and ruins the surprise. Psyche smiled and made a pyramid with her disfigured fingertips to rest her head on. Crane nodded his head again._

_"And how did you find my toxin? The results were satisfactory I believe?" He enquired. Shyera nodded, suddenly intimidated by the knowledge that one so dangerous was before her. The corners of his mouth twisted into an arrogant smile. "Take that down Sparrow, a weaker concentration of opiates was a positive change." Psyche nodded and mock saluted him in a bored fashion._

_The bell sounded around the room causing Shyera to jump in shock. It was the end of the leisure period. The three villains looked at her amused, they were such seniors of the asylum now, things like the bell signalling the end of the leisure period did not bother them._

_The couple on the sofa rose silently and walked side by side back towards the door, careful not to touch each other. Suddenly, Psyche spun back around._

_"Edward, don't forget to ah...kiss your daughter goodnight. I'll tell you how to get into her cell if you're nice to me." She smirked before Crane put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away, stooping down and whispering something in her ear. She smiled and whispered something back, causing him in turn to smirk as well as he continued to drive her out of the room with a single long, thin finger resting on her shoulder._

_"What the hell?" Shyera exclaimed when they were gone, her and Edward walking as slowly as they could to the door as well, "What the hell was that?" Edward smiled ruefully._

_"Catherine, or Elizabeth as she prefers the general public to call her." He explained, "is the Scarecrow's companion. She was a kidnap victim, but instead of just killing her, they were together for a year. Nobody knows what happened for that year, only a select few know that she is actually the hostage formerly known as Catherine. The general public are under the impression that Catherine died in a blaze orchestrated by Psyche. What is known however, and only by a few, is that after she was freed by the police, Catherine masterminded a way of faking her death and finding her way to Arkham and freeing Crane. They disappeared for two weeks before turning up on my doorstep. They've rarely been seen without each other ever since. Though to the public, she is the elusive Elizabeth Griffin, no fingerprints (she did that to herself by the way, those abominations she has, she never went into details, she just says she did what she had to do) no past, no back story. To the guards, she speaks in that American accent she puts on. To me, she speaks in such a laboured English accent. To Crane, she is herself. Quite frankly, its universally recognised all around that she is insane."_

_"I hate her." Shyera spat. She couldn't believe it, no wonder Edward didn't like her and had always been very vocal on that point. Well that settled it. Edward had been right, and she'd never question him again. This was met with a proud look from Edward._

_"I heavily concur my dear." He beamed at her proudly, "And I cannot tell you how relieved I am to hear you say that. I could not be doing with an ally of Psyche in my life. She's an insufferable woman and the most illogical factor of Crane. Why he's with her I do not know."_

_"So why not tell everyone who she really is? Expose her to the world as Catherine Adams and she'll be hurled back to England before you can say 'good riddance.'" She grinned. Edward suddenly turned to her sharply, placing both hands on her shoulders._

_"Shyera, listen to me." He said firmly, "In my world, you must remember, it is not only you and me. We are all like fish swimming in the same barrel, and we are constantly having to balance living with each other as carefully as we can. Catherine Adams is the Scarecrow's and as much as I do not understand it, he likes having her around. I cannot and will not interfere with his life, for my own safety and now yours, do not provoke a war between me and him. It'll be dangerous. That and, as difficult as Jonathan Crane appears, he is a wise ally and a close confidant of mine. In time, you will hopefully come to respect him and his usefulness as well..."_

_"But Psyche insu..." Shyera began. She was quickly interrupted however._

_"Yes, she hates me and I think she is despicable. She cannot understand the true genius of my work, and I too fail to see why someone like Jonathan Crane would keep her around. He never backs her up when she picks fights, but he knows that he doesn't have to. No matter how she pushes you, never be tempted to let slip her identity. It would be the last thing you do." She could have sworn she saw a glint of love in his eye as he clumsily patted her on the head, but this was quickly brushed aside back to the strict, fatherly face he reserved for her._

_"Promise me Shyera." He almost begged, causing her to feel a surge of guilt within her. If Catherine Adams was exposed because of her, then Edward would pay...that could never happen._

_That was the first time she had met Catherine Adams. True to her word, she never let slip to anybody in Arkham Catherine's true identity. It didn't mean that she didn't have fun though. One day, when she was in the food hall without Edward, she spotted Catherine sat at a table in front of two stunningly pretty women, one a tall red head and the other a smaller blonde woman with her hair in pigtails. She smirked and went and sat down next to her. The two women in front of them stopped talking and looked at her with caution for she had not seen them before. Catherine turned to her with her nostrils flaring in disgust._

_"Margaret." She said cordially, but with sarcasm dripping from her mouth. Shyera snarled, about to retort, when she suddenly had a flash of inspiration._

"_She of the pomegranate clan,_

_And she who slept her way to power in a strange land._

_Beware however,_

_As it is she who lost her head in a wicker band._

_Who is she?"_

_Catherine looked at her hard, the other women looked at her slightly confused._

_"What is she on about Cat?" The pigtailed woman asked Cat in a thick New York accent. Cat smiled triumphantly at Shyera, "Never mind Harley, it doesn't matter." Suddenly, she moved in menacingly and whispered in her ear: _

_"Well done on your history by the way, I'm flattered that you learnt parts of history for me, I suppose I have to congratulate you on knowing Catherine of Aragon's emblem, and about Catherine the Great. Though it's true that Catherine Howard was beheaded, you seem to have forgotten Henry VIII sixth wife Catherine Parr." She leaned back and stared hard into her eyes, "She survived hun." And then, in an accent so chillingly similar to Lady Gaga, she muttered, "Don't fuck with a History graduate Lolita."_

_

* * *

_

"_Catherine has her allies as well Shyera, do not worry. Harley and Pam can make their own minds up." Edward assured her later that day. They were in the exercise yard, the first time they had seen each other all day and Shyera was not happy._

_"I can't stand her! She's so...so cocky! She always cuts me down and just does it with that bloody superior smirk!"_

_"Well...she is Crane's protégée." He sighed, gripping his hands together to avoid showing her just how angry he really was. Shyera threw her hands up in the air._

"_But seriously! He's not a big a bastard as she is!" She snapped, much to Edward's amusement, who began to chuckle. "What?" She asked angrily. Edward wiped a tear of glee from his eyes giddily._

"_My dear, you're probably the first person I've ever met who has said that Jonathan Crane's not a bastard. It's definitely a first." Shyera however, was not amused. Edward eventually picked up on the icy silence Shyera was giving off and adopted his sympathetic voice._

_"Cheer up Shyera, if it makes you feel any better, you interest Crane. A lot." Shyera looked up slightly._

_"Oh? Bu..but he didn't say anything..."_

_"Like I said, Catherine is a product of Crane, but she hasn't his class or subtlety. Just because she feels the need to talk, he doesn't. He's been observing you. Believe me though, this is a man who can reduce the most hardened psychologist to tears. If he wanted to make you cry, you'd be feeling a lot worse than you do with Catherine." This caused her to sigh._

"_What the hell is he doing with her?" She asked exasperatedly. From everything Edward had said, he respected the former doctor, and Crane always seemed to sit back and watch the situation. Why did he keep that bitch around? Edward simply smiled proudly again._

_"Believe me Shyera, when he gets tired of her, and he will, she'll be found in the river where she should have been found two years ago."_

_

* * *

_

And now Catherine was locked up in Arkham whilst Crane was free to pursue an experiment with Edward? Shyera smiled, wriggling her toes in the Bitch's shoes, now her shoes. It looked like that day had finally come. But before she could celebrate properly with Edward, to Gotham Bridge she would go and wait for the winged menace to show. After all, tonight was special, she intended to have some fun.

* * *

_"Promise me one thing Daddy." She whispered, putting her head to one side. Edward smiled kindly._

_"What my dear?"_

_"Never fall in love." She hissed, "Especially not with anybody like Psyche."_

_

* * *

_

**Hey fanfic, I know it's been a while, but I'm going to be bad again and ask for another break. Got my seminars done, now onto essays...the life of a university student lol. :'(**

**This chapter is dedicated happily to Horsewhisper3 and her character Shyera (believe me, we're friends in real life lol). I hope I've done justice to the character. This chapter was just to show you why Batman's not going to appear anytime soon (a story minus the hero? I must have issues). Next, back to the nightmare Chloe got trapped in last chapter (it is coming...as soon as I'm finished with Gamal Nasser and Ernest Satow)**

**This chapter is also dedicated to every Riddler fangirl out there with my condolences. Can't believe Nolan's not including him in the final movie!**

**See you in December **

**ps: From one Scarecrow fangirl to the rest; HAPPY HALLOWEEN...and happy birthday to my brother for the other day even though he doesn't know I write things like this lol**


	7. Mnemophobia: Fear of Memory

**Thanks for the reviews guys. They made me happy during my stressful essay period :) **

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**Mnemophobia: ****Fear of Memory**

"_Ms. Mandelson, how are we feeling today?" Crane's smiled professionally. Chloe smiled back. In all of his files which she had read, they had informed her that Crane was cruel, sarcastic and serious. Could it be that the file was wrong? After all, only a few years ago (according to the files), Jonathan Crane was a solitary criminal whose services were for let when suddenly Elizabeth Griffin appeared on the scene. They were even more famous a couple than the Joker and Harley Quinn, only it was very rare they were seen without each other in contrast to the Clown Couple. If the file was wrong about Crane romantically, it had to be wrong about him being completely a monster. She took the seat already laid out for her in front of his cell and pulled out her notepad._

_"How're you feeling today doctor?" She asked. She saw the accidental smile he always gave her when she addressed him as 'doctor', she supposed it was in some sentimental nostalgia for his glory days as a respected doctor._

_"Ah, as well as I can be in here child..." He began. Chloe's ears pricked up. Was he suffering at all? She kept hearing the conversations they had had before. When he told her not to worry . He had shown her more kindness than anybody and now there was something..._

_"Are they treating you alright? She asked alarmed. She was his psychologist, she was responsible for him. If the people in charge of the asylum were treating the only understanding person in the world as an animal, she wanted to know about it..._

_"Oh, as well as you can treat a convicted criminal." He chuckled to himself. His voice alarmed Chloe, it gave such an edge of sorrow and accidental childishness. The empathy within her weld up even more._

_"Just because you're a criminal, doesn't mean that they can treat you like an animal." She burst out, leading to a pleasantly surprised look from Dr. Crane. "Now, today I was hoping that..."_

_"Such compassion from one in power." He interrupted. "However, I am afraid that I am cynical when it comes to human compassion. Tell me, do you condone my actions on the outside?"_

_"No." She said. She cringed, maybe that had been said too quickly. Would he react negatively? To her surprise, he smiled._

_"Ah, so you are not an adoring fan. In that case, I must admit that I am confused. What drives a woman to show emotion towards someone so unworthy of sympathy..."_

_"Everyone deserves sym..." Chloe tried to interject, Crane carried on anyway._

_"A childhood trauma perhaps? Not shown much kindness perhaps? A family issue perhaps?" Chloe bowed her head. What reply do you give to that?_

_"Ms Mandelson?" He enquired gently. In her head, Chloe heard her father's voice. That cruel, demanding voice which believed that as the head of the house, he should have open access to his daughter's life and mind. Secret thoughts were forbidden. Now, Crane, the one person in the world who was reportedly the cruel one, was asking, not demanding. Chloe felt a sort of peace talking to him which she hadn't felt in a long time._

_"My father." She whispered. A part of her prayed that he hadn't heard, but the rest of her wished he had. A twitch of his ears told her the latter._

_"Parents have a way of destroying our sense of self. My associate Griffin maintains that the cruellest thing a human can do is reproduce. She had a tough time with her parents as well."_

_"Really?" She whispered. The files had reported nothing on Elizabeth Griffin's life before taking up the mantle of Psyche. Psychologists and cops had once tried extracting the information by putting her under a sodium pentothal trance. It had begun well, she had slumped forward and answered their questions in whispers. Arkham had gotten frustrated at this and demanded she spoke up._

_"What the hell are you talking about Griffin?" He snapped. She had looked up through a thick curtain of dark hair._

_"I need to tell you." She had whispered in a drug induced haze, "I'll tell you where I dumped the bodies..."_

_"Bodies? What bodies?" Arkham demanded._

_"I'll tell you...I'll tell you but please. Please lean in. I feel so awful saying it out loud."_

_Arkham had leaned in eagerly. Griffin whispered something about a lake, when she had snapped her head forward and head butted Arkham straight on the nose. Yes, after that day, it was clear that Elizabeth Griffin was immune to all truth serums and her life would remain a mystery. And now Crane was telling Chloe a piece of Griffin's history? He smiled knowingly._

_"The cruellest thing a person can do is reproduce, we pass on all our fears and troubles onto our children.' It's the one thing she and I strongly agree on. Tell me. What did your father do? Beat you? Take out his own failings on you?"_

_"No!" Chloe screeched unintentionally. She panted, whatever had happened in her life, she needed him to know that she wasn't that weak. "No. He'd never hit me, I'd have scratched his eyes out if he did."_

_"My my, such a fighter." He smiled. Chloe felt the determination she had felt long ago, the determination to prove herself._

_"He wouldn't dare lay a finger on me." She said proudly, "I was a black belt by the age of 10, he knew he couldn't touch me."_

_"But something happened." He pointed out. "He did something to you. If it wasn't physical...?" He let the question hang in the air. Chloe crinkled her nose. No, she would regain control._

_"Tell me the obsession with fear Dr. Crane." She demanded. Crane smiled cockily._

_"No." The 'O' was perfectly formed and final, "Tell me first. What did daddy put you through Miss Mandelson? Quid pro quo." _

_Chloe bowed her head. She had made progress with Jonathan Crane. At the start, he had ignored her, but she had persisted and he had begun to talk. In all of their sessions, he had been so gentle, so calm towards her. So unlike her father._

_"I was never good enough for him." She began. She looked up at him tentavley, it is human nature to want to get things off your chest, but it was also human nature to make do and carry on. She saw none of the impatience or annoyance she always used to encounter whenever she'd tried to speak her mind. No, only fortitude and a professional ear was evident with Crane._

_"Please continue." He said simply, "You are in a safe environment here."_

_"I was never good enough for him. I wasn't the son he wanted, but neither was I the little girl he expected. I was always a tomboy you see, didn't really fit in with what my parents had thought they would get when they named me Chloe. Ha! Chloe! What a weak name! Anyway, I don't think you'd like them, they thought that Psychology was the worst subject in the world for their daughter. Not refined like History or English, but not educated and respected like Medicine or Law. Guess it didn't help relations with my dad. He thought I was a failure in the first place, I didn't help. Oh, the strange, morbid child with an obsession with phobias and the mind, he was hardly going to boast about me at parties..."_

_"I happen to think that studying fear is actually a respected subject." Crane pointed out indignantly. This led to a thrilled look from Chloe._

_"You're the first one to tell me that Doctor." She said. Inwardly, she shook the memories off. Here, she was accepted._

_

* * *

_

"_Dr. Crane, I heard that you attacked Dr. Murphy yesterday." Chloe sighed. Crane was strapped to a chair in the middle of his cell humming sinisterly to himself._

_"Me attack him? I just released some toxin into his office. In that sense, I didn't attack him. Science did."_

_"He's in a coma!" Chloe exclaimed. Inwardly, she knew that she should have been shocked, mad even, but she couldn't. Indeed, he had a point. "But I want to know why. Why do that to him?"_

_"I wanted to know his fears of course." He chuckled, "After all, he was so keen to question Elizabeth about hers, there's only so many times you can repeat a question to Elizabeth before she get...aggravated..."_

_"So you filled his office with fear toxin to defend your partner?" Chloe asked, secretly so shocked that she was in fact impressed by this show of chivalry, hell, she had slept with many men, but could not pick out a single boy who cared enough to hang around afterwards and now she was talking to a man who would happily put another man in a coma for something so trivial._

_"Will you kindly ask Officer Cash to release me from this straight jacket Ms. Mandelson?" He simply replied, ignoring her question, "I have been in these restraints for a day now, I do not need to remind you of international law do I child?"_

_"No...no of course you don't." Chloe mumbled, snapping herself out of her admiring fantasy and staring at the bound former doctor in horror._

_"All day? Tha..that's awful! Of course...of course..." She gabbled, standing up from the chair in front of him and running to the guards station to do his bidding._

* * *

Chloe was floating, or at least her head was. She was watching the scenes from the past year unfurl before her. The recurring dream and the reality from which she couldn't wake. She watched the scene melt into after the guards had (unwillingly) freed Crane from his restraints. He was now sat at the desk in his cell, furiously scribbling something with crayon.

* * *

_"Why shouldn't the Scarecrow do something for the woman that feeds him?" He had replied after what seemed like forever. He was no longer looking at Chloe, but starring intently at what he was scribbling. Suddenly, he snarled in frustration and began stabbing the notepaper violently, his face manic. _

_"DR. CRANE!" Chloe yelled in surprise, jumping back in her chair a little. The file had warned of his sudden violent mood swings, but she was still scared. He looked up, his mouth had fallen open in shock at his outburst, as if he couldn't believe the rush of emotions he had just shown, but his eyes looked as if they were going to start crying._

_"Forgive me." He apologised. "What I just did...it was not appropriate..."_

_"Dr. Crane?" She asked warily. Whatever Crane had just done there, it was so out of character for Jonathan Crane, it was as if he had been possessed by a savage beast..._

_"Ms Mandelson." Crane's cold drawling voice bought her out of her thoughts like someone throwing freezing water on her. She jumped back, a scream caught in her throat; Crane had stood from the table and was not right in front of the glass, holding the crayoned mess of paper in his hand._

_"I am sorry to ask you." He said calmly, "But when the opportunity arises, might you deliver this to Elizabeth?"_

_Chloe's eyes widened in shock. Taking the piece of paper from the drawer used to pass files or food on to the patients, she glanced down at it. Despite the crayon, and the marks, the words were still beautiful:_

Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!

My spirit not awakening, till the beam

Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.

Yes! tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,

'Twere better than the cold reality

Of waking life, to him whose heart must be,

And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,

A chaos of deep passion, from his birth.

But should it be- that dream eternally

Continuing- as dreams have been to me

In my young boyhood- should it thus be given,

'Twere folly still to hope for higher Heaven.

For I have revell'd, when the sun was bright

I' the summer sky, in dreams of living light

And loveliness,- have left my very heart

In climes of my imagining, apart

From mine own home, with beings that have been

Of mine own thought- what more could I have seen?

'Twas once- and only once- and the wild hour

From my remembrance shall not pass- some power

Or spell had bound me- 'twas the chilly wind

Came o'er me in the night, and left behind

Its image on my spirit- or the moon

Shone on my slumbers in her lofty noon

Too coldly- or the stars- howe'er it was

That dream was as that night-wind- let it pass.

I have been happy, tho' in a dream.

I have been happy- and I love the theme:

Dreams! in their vivid coloring of life,

As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife

Of semblance with reality, which brings

To the delirious eye, more lovely things

Of Paradise and Love- and all our own!

Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.

_"Please give it to her when you get the chance, she's upstairs still, and I don't see her as much as I'd like to in here, especially as she is unable to keep her temper down..."_

_"Dr. Crane! I can't just waltz up to the solitary confinement and give a patient something! It could be used against..."_

_"The only way it could be used against you is if I've blatantly written blueprints to Arkham on it. Look at it child, it's merely a poem for a woman I...I..."_

_"Dr. Crane?" Chloe held the note to her chest, nervous and yet longing for what it meant. Scarecrow, the man who, from the notes she had read, was a natural loner, he had had a lonely childhood and was rejected by society. But now? Now he had the human companionship in the form of Elizabeth Griffin. Chloe's mind whirled at the romanticism of their relationship. Every file under the Scarecrow could be crossed referenced with Psyche and vice versa, for they never worked without the other. From their sessions, Crane had told her things, things he'd never tell any of the other psychologists. It all resonated so painfully with her own unloved childhood, and yet he had found somebody to love him (in all their sessions, he had never said anything of the sort to her about Elizabeth, but the frequency in which her name was mentioned meant Crane gave away more than he was probably thinking). Chloe sighed at the hopelessness of the situation. If she had found somebody to share her lonliness with, then it would kill her to be separated from them like Crane and Griffin were. And she couldn't even deliver a note to her. Crane cleared his throat irritably._

_"Of course, I'd understand if you didn't. You're so scared of losing, being shown up, being questioned by Arkham...all with your father's words ringing in your ears..."_

_Chloe felt her chest rise and her shoulders square up angrily. She would not let Crane see her weak. He would see the woman he had told her to be. She would show him._

_"Tell me where she is." Chloe muttered, staring straight at Crane's proud smile._

_

* * *

_

Chloe closed her eyes in humiliation. Crane knew how to get inside her mind. On top of that, she felt her heart explode within her chest. This memory was too scary, it was her going against official rules for the first time since her dad died. Nobody was there to tell her off for changing her hair colour, but somebody would if she was caught passing something on to Griffin. Chloe whimpered inwardly, the images continued with the path she chose, defying rules and marching up to the next floor of the asylum, the love note clutched to her chest.

_"Halt, you need correct clearance for this section." The guard declared, stepping in front of Chloe before she could open the door to the solitary confinement wing. _Chloe watched herself puff herself up again. It terrified her to see how powerful and commanding she looked, back straight and haughty like the former psychiatrist downstairs.

_She pulled out her ID and flashed the guard quickly, hoping that he didn't see the restricted stamp over her picture. She glared authoritarian like at the guard and said as firmly as she could muster:_

_"I'm here to see Elizabeth Griffin. She starts her one to one therapy with me today." She said, surprised at how professional her voice sounded, especially considering the way she'd stammered something similar to that a few months previously when she had started interviewing Crane. The guard raised an eyebrow._

_"She's in confinements. Didn't know the crazies got therapy when they were meant to cool off?"_

_"It's a new policy Arkham's trying out." Chloe announced confidently (it actually did sound like a crackpot scheme the owner of Arkham would think up of) "Now, if you want to discuss it further with him, I suggest you do it quickly, I'm a busy woman and don't have time for people who don't read the memos."_

_"Alright, alright." The guard huffed, stepping aside, "Just gotta check these things you know? Some proper crazies locked up in here...you know which cell she's in? I'll unlock the cell and let you in." Chloe panicked, which sounded more professional? Let herself be escorted there, or go by herself? Crane had already told her the cell number (she never stopped to question how he knew), she knew she couldn't go into Griffin's cell straight off, how would she react to her companion's female therapist waltzing in? From what she had read of her case files, Griffin was violent...was she the jealous type? Was she irrational? It would be easier to go by herself, maybe then the guard wouldn't hang around._

_"It's the first session, perhaps it'll be best to conduct the interview from outside her cell?" She couldn't believe it...it was actually working! The guard nodded and stood aside. "Better you than me." He said gruffly, "I wouldn't talk to that lot if my life depended on it."_

_Chloe took a deep breath and entered the long corridor that was solitary confinement. It was very much like the corridor below, long and thin with doors on either side with inhabitants inside. But whereas downstairs was designed to make the detainee feel agoraphobic by giving them no personal space with their glass doors, this corridor was designed to trap the prisoner in a cave by themselves. The heavy metal doors blocked those within into a padded cell designed to isolate and ultimately drive the occupant into some paradoxically insane submission. As Chloe walked down the dark, dilapidated corridor, she noted that the place was filled with cries and screams from its occupants, yet there was another noise. A soft feminine voice was singing quietly to itself. As Chloe got to the cell she needed, she realised that the voice was coming from there. She felt her knees practically turn to jelly realising that she was getting closer to the great Psyche's cell. She could hear the lyrics coming through the metal door, quiet enough to make the listener think they were hearing it in their minds:_

"Look at these people  
Amazing how sheep will  
Show up for the slaughter  
No one condemning you  
Lined up like lemmings, you  
Led to the water  
Why can't they see what I see  
Why can't they hear the lies  
Maybe the fee's too pricey  
For them to realize your disguise  
Is slipping  
I think you're slipping

Now that your saviour  
Is still as the grave  
You're beginning to fear me  
Like cavemen fear thunder  
I still have to wonder  
Can you really hear me?  
I bring you pain, the kind  
you can't suffer quietly  
Fire up your brain  
Remind you inside your rioting society  
Is slipping  
Everything's slipping away, so

Go ahead, run away, say it was horrible  
Spread the word, tell a friend, tell them the tale  
Get a pic, do a blog, heroes are over with..."

_"Miss Gri...Griffin?" Chloe asked shakily, the words getting caught in her throat. The woman on the other side of the door stopped her song and Chloe heard footsteps coming up to the door. Even though they were well padded owing to the floor which would have been on the other side, each step cut through Chloe like a knife. _

_"I've told you once, I'll not tell you again." A dangerous voice whispered coldly, "I'm not taking the meds. Now if you've gotten that clear, please fuck off." Chloe however, remained rooted to the ground. Stretching out a shaking hand, she opened the slot used for passing food into the cell and for observing those inside. The padded cell had a very small window in the wall, letting in minimal sunlight, Chloe had no idea whether it made the room look cosy or just plain suffocating. In the middle, Elizabeth Griffin had turned her back to the door and had begun walking back to her bed, singing softly "Confusing what is real..." Even though Chloe could only see the back, her posture was upright, and her long, curling hair fell to just below her bum. Even in her bright orange jumpsuit, Elizabeth Griffin was still elegant, like the man directly below her._

_"Miss Griffin, I'm not here to bring you your medication. I'm her here because of Jonathan Crane..." That was all that was needed. Griffin whipped around instantly and came back to the opened hatch. Chloe took a step backwards. It was common knowledge that Psyche's face was her white expressionless mask, and you believed that if you wanted to live. Now, Griffin was looking at her like a normal human being, and it scared her._

_"What's wrong with Jonathan?" Griffin demanded. It wasn't a bossy, harsh tone, she sounded like merely a person who was concerned for another, but Chloe still wouldn't look on her._

_"I said. What. Is. Wrong. With Jonath...oh just look at me will you?" Chloe tried forcing her eyes off the ground, but her body was shaking._

_"I...I don't want to...to..." Chloe stammered. She heard a very annoyed sigh coming from the cell._

_"Look at me, don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I just want to know if Crane's ok...has he been eating?" Chloe noted the scared, loving tone in Griffin's voice. It was soothing to hear, helping her eyes drift back up to the hatch. Elizabeth Griffin stood right there. Some survivors of seeing her without her mask on had sworn that they had seen a demon with bright red eyes, fanged teeth and wasps spilling out of her mouth. What Chloe was seeing was less exciting._

_The young woman stood in front of the hatch was no demon. Unusual? Yes, but no demon. Her brunette hair fell over her shoulders, framing her naturally round face. She looked like a girl who could put on weight quite easily, but appeared to have been on an extreme diet, as her cheeks, which should have been plump on such a face shape, were shallow and taunt. Her skin, despite being that of a woman apparently in her twenties (the files had no official birth date for Griffin), was blotchy, uneven and spattered with some juvenile spots. The only evidence that she was not a teenager was the small collection of tiny scars, old battle scars which were only seen in the right light (which unfortunately, was the light in that suffocating cell). These didn't matter though, Chloe was entranced with her eyes. They were not bright red as it had been claimed, but a dark chocolate brown. They were large, and on her half starved face, appeared bigger than they really were. Whilst Crane's light blue eyes were cold and calculating, Griffin's drew you in and held you in their own dark world. The weird thing about her though, was that the overall effect was powerful and stern, but they somehow didn't seem to fit together. Her nose gave her a haughty look, but there was something off about it, like it shouldn't have been there. Overall, her face looked blank, but her curved eyebrows were slightly raised in anticipation._

_"I said, is Crane alright?" She asked coldly. Chloe noted in her mind that her accent was New Yorkian, but lacked the mollish, high pitchness of Harleen Quinzel. She shook herself out of her trance. She had gotten Crane to respect her, she would gain Griffin's respect too._

_"Miss Griffin, I'm Dr. Mandelson, I'm Jonathan Crane's thera..."_

_"I know who you are." Griffin interrupted irritably, "A psych student with the arduous task of analysing Jonathan. What I want to know is, why you've come to see me?" Her nostrils flared, "What's wrong with Jonathan?" Chloe felt a metaphorical stab of dread with the killer getting clearly annoyed at her. On the other hand, she was panicking about someone she cared deeply for Chloe thought, making it easier to straighten up._

_"Miss Griffin, Jonathan's fine. I just have something for you from him." She replied soothingly, pulling the note out which she had hidden from the guards. "This is officially a therapy session, so don't tell anybody. He gave me this for you." And passed through the poem to Griffin's outstretched hands (Chloe recoiled at the horribly scarred long stubs that were her fingers and wondered morbidly what had happened to them). Elizabeth read the poem thoroughly, before rereading. Chloe marvelled at the loving and gentle expression on the (reportedly) cold hearted killer's face. She had been right, Crane and Griffin were certainly against the world, but they had found each other. This gave Chloe a huge sense of satisfaction._

_"How is Jonathan?" Elizabeth repeated, but asking softly this time, "It is so long since...since we spoke...is he well? I haven't seen him since Doctor Murphy...is he eating?" Chloe couldn't help but smile at the pussy cat nature Griffin was exhibiting, firing questions at Chloe, but not demanding answers violently, merely wanting to show her interest in the man downstairs. She shivered however. There was something sinister about the situation. Elizabeth was clearly so happy, it was as if she was no longer in her tiny padded cell, but in some magical world with only her and Crane, but Chloe was still in the dark, narrow hallway, surrounded by the screams and cries of the rest of the people in confinement. The atmosphere was suffocating to the inexperienced Chloe. She felt as if she was trapped, as if the anguished, destroyed souls within were pulling her down...down...down._

_"Psych. Girl?" Griffin pulled Chloe from the icy waters of her mind. She hadn't realised that her legs had buckled. "Are you alright?"_

_"The...the screams!" Chloe whispered, "Oh how can they not bother you?" Griffin raised an eyebrow. _

_"Screams? Oh them! Well...I suppose that's because I made them scream..."_

_"What?" Yelped Chloe, starring at the caged woman in horror. Griffin smirked._

_"A little research of my own. Singing to them at such a low frequency, and songs containing certain lyrics. I've found that the people next to me were both convinced I was their subconscious telling them to kill themselves. That just kind of spread to the rest of the hall I guess." Chloe's eyes widened in shock, but also, slight admiration. Griffin was so like Crane, it was scary. Yet whilst Crane downstairs was unpredictable and quiet, Griffin was vocal and stood like a lioness._

_"Can..can you er..."_

_"Cut the acoustics?" Griffin smiled like a snake as Chloe nodded nervously._

_"If...if you could." She whispered. This was met by an amused cackle from Griffin._

_"Of course I can Psych. Girl." She declared arrogantly, "I'm Psyche."_

_With that, she stepped back from the door and cleared her throat. She smiled at Chloe and launched into a song._

bei fang you jia ren  
jue shi er du li  
yi gu qing ren cheng  
zai gu qing ren guo  
ning bu zhi  
qing cheng yu qing guo  
jia ren nan zai de

_Chloe had stood in front of the hatch all this time, watching in confusion as Elizabeth had began dancing silently over her small cell, before bursting into this strange, unknown song. She watched as the villain sashayed around the padded room, exuding calmness and tranquillity. After it was done, she bowed in an elegant pose._

_"What on Earth are you doing?" Chloe asked confused. Griffin grinned at her._

_"Well...they've stopped haven't they?" She asked smartly. Chloe pricked her ears up. She was still in the dank, narrow hallway, but the crying had stopped. The screams had ceased and all was calm. Even the guard had to poke his head around the door, confused as to why the screams had stopped._

_"What's going on here?" He asked Chloe, clearly confused. She blushed, unsure of what to say next._

_"Improvise." Griffin whispered to her, "You can do it! You've gotten this far!" _

_"I guess they're all listening here." She suggested firmly, "You can't deny, Griffin's an interesting character."_

_"I guess." The guard muttered before slamming the door, clearly not wishing to be in such an enclosed space with the crazies. Chloe exhaled in relief, again, she had gotten away with going against the rules. How come she wasn't panicking?_

_"Brava." Griffin grinned, clapping genially. Chloe looked back to her and gasped in amazement. "A little experiment I've conducted on my own part psych girl. People say songs talk to them, well, can they really drive people to suicide? Though Ziyi Zhang's a pretty good antedote,my experiment still needs a little bit of work." She then reached her arm through a hatch. Chloe jumped and looked at the open palm. __In the time she had taken her eyes off of Griffin, Elizabeth had turned the love poem into an origami bird._

_"Japanese legend says that if you fold a thousand cranes, then you get a wish." She said softly, handing the altered note back to Chloe. This blasé handling of something from a man she apparently loved shocked Chloe._

_"I...I can't take that!" She protested, "It's from Cra..."_

_"It's a poem by Edgar Allen Poe." Griffin interjected, "One which I have read a million times. You however, you need a wish..."_

_"Really?" Chloe asked, panicking in case she came off as weak to this terrifying woman who exuded authority and strength. Griffin smiled soothingly._

_"Of course, you spend all day with Jonathan. That would drive anybody insane really." Griffin suddenly paused and burst out laughing, baring her perfect dentistry at a shocked Chloe. She joined in nervously, unsure of what was funny. Griffin noted this and stopped, offering the crane again._

_"Go on, take it. In your most secret of hearts, what would you wish for?" She asked gently. Chloe felt her heart go faster. In her head, she heard her parent's criticisms, her mother saying bitterly "Don't dream Chloe, dreams come to nothing." Now, Elizabeth Griffin was telling her it was alright to think like that...think like her._

_

* * *

_

"NO!" Chloe screamed, watching this scene. She had tried so hard to forget these memories, the days spent with Crane and Griffin in which she thought that she'd felt so free and happy. No, it wasn't right to feel this way, like insane people did. She wouldn't let herself reminisce, she couldn't be happy like this...

Chloe jerked herself awake. She was lying on the cold, concrete ground, much like she was at the beginning of this nightmare. All the girls but two were on the ground unconscious and screaming, trapped in their own nightmares. Lisa on the other hand, was up on all fours dry heaving.

"Lisa!" Chloe croaked, choking on the remnants of the toxin. The girl looked up weakly.

"You're awake! You beat your darkest memory!" She croaked joyfully. Chloe coughed.

"Darkest mem..ROSIE!" She screamed the last part, noticing the former cop on the floor. She wasn't screaming like the rest, in fact, she was the only one who was deathly still...deathly still. Lisa crawled over to her, placing her gloved fingers on her jugular.

"Chloe..." She said slowly. This was interrupted however, by a bone chilling laughter filling the room.

"My my. I'm disappointed." Crane cackled over the intercom sarcastically, "You save her from the dogs to have her bleed to death in the next room. Such a shame she wasn't haemophobic."

**Hey fanfic! So glad to be back after a month! Apologise to all those Riddler fans out there for his absence in this chapter, but boy do I have a treat for you next lol. Also so glad to be writing Catherine again. Started Melinoe which is lovely, but I definatley prefer writing her like this.**

**Ok, firstly, how naive can Chloe get? Seriously! lol **

**The two songs Cat sang are slipping from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and "The Beauty Song" from the film House of Flying Daggers." You can tell she has a taste for the theatrics can't you? lol.**

**Shout out to Fer-sure-baby for her works on Deviant Art (one of which...or two...will feature next chapter)**

**And what's the poem got to do with the price of fish? Hmm, I could be showing the romantic side of Crane...or this could be a bluff...or the fact that I'm telling you could mean that this is a double...tripple? Oh it's some sort of bluff.**

**Remember, reviews are love (well they make do until I get paid for this sort of thing)**

**Artemis out**


	8. Autophobia: Fear of Abandoment

**Autophobia: Fear of Abandonment**

Crane kept his finger on the switch so that the two girls could hear him laughing. He barely laughed in public, but this was just too ironic to not appreciate. He took delight in their disgusted, fearful faces. He guaffed as he watched the Wheaton girl fall backwards and scoot away, the sheer terror on her face. He cackled as he saw the Mandelson girl collapse back on the floor. He had gotten to them, he had shown them both his truly awesome power. In one night, he had killed the mob princess and the rising star of the Gotham police department. Nobody was safe, he killed regardless. He looked over to Nygma to share the merriment with his cohort, as it was this sort of chaos and panic that Edward took joy in.

The Riddler however, raised an eyebrow from behind his mask; something was troubling him. Crane raised an eyebrow and took his finger off the switch.

"Are you alright Edward?" He asked. Despite his damaged, cold voice, he still somehow managed to convey concern. Edward's nostrils flared a bit.

"How dim must that Wheaton girl be?" He asked slowly, "Surely it would make more sense to take your gloves off to check a pulse?" Crane shrugged.

"She's hardly a genius. She fell so easily into Catherine and mine's trap after all!" He proffered. Nygma looked at him questioningly.

"Thought she had a degree?" He asked incredulously. To have a degree meant that you had to have an inch of intelligence...right? To this, Crane sniggered again.

"Not necessarily." He explained coolly, "I spent my degree submerged in my studies, but the general student population indulge in such inane activities and possess no idea of intelligence. Catherine for example, spent three years behaving like a right buffoon. The stories she has told me! Waltzing into her block in first year to announce to everyone that she hated them and wished that they'd die slowly and painfully. Answering a question her lecturer posed her with "I like banana milkshake" because she was too hung-over to think of a proper answer. Or hugging him when drunk? People's common sense seems to go down when they get to university. The idea that they're intelligent is misguided." He smirked behind his mask. Edward Nygma, for all his vanity and egotism, had never received a university degree, working in the fairground instead before moving into a life of crime and that fact often manifested itself in Nygma's drive to prove himself better than the members of the Rogues Gallery such as Crane, Ivy and Harley (though to be fair, he had been quite sweet to Harley before 'the incident'). This drive often did extend to Crane's companion Catherine Adams, who Nygma refused to believe was smarter than his own daughter Shyera, even though Catherine was the one with the degree. Despite his friendship with Nygma, and his general respect for his adopted daughter, he couldn't help but admire the way Catherine could so easily tap into the girl's mind and inner most insecurity. Sometimes, he had to wonder if she carried on baiting Shyera for her own enjoyment, or his. All he did know was that it was memories like that that made him almost wish that she was there in the room with him now.

Eddie looked back to the screen, drinking in the horror on Chloe's face. For half an hour, the girl had been trapped in her deepest nightmare, and the results were...interesting to say the least.

"What did you and Catherine do to her?" He asked suspiciously. He had seen Chloe writhe on the floor, screaming : "NO CRANE! STOP! I DON'T WANT THIS! NO GRIFFIN! I'M NOT...NOT...I'M NOT LIKE..." and so on. This intriguing enigma needed answering. Unfortunately, Crane didn't deign to give an answer.

"Those two are the only ones who've overcome their nightmares. I think we should start the next challenge without the rest." He drawled coldly, much to Edward's surprise.

"Now? What about the oth..."

"Then they'll just miss out on this." He interrupted coldly, "I'm only interested in one."

"Excuse me?" Edward demanded, sitting up sharply, "What the hell is going on tonight Jonathan?" Crane turned to him slowly.

"An experiment of humanity, fear and a question I have been begging ever since I started having those ridiculous 'sessions' with that child."

"Chloe Mandelson is the reason for tonight's entertainment?" He practically squawked, "The girl you knew I wanted is the reason for everything tonight?"

"Now Edward, I didn't know that you wanted her. To be honest, I thought that you were still whining about Quinn..."

"Careful."

"When Catherine told me that she would plan an escape but make sure you took it, I just assumed it was because she was sick of you..."

"But..but really she wanted me out of the way so that you could have your fun with MY property..."

"What on earth are you talking about Edward?" Jonathan asked exasperatedly. His damaged tone clearly expressed his boredom at dealing with Nygma's mood swing, "She was my therapist..."

"Catherine! That bitch saw that I was interested in her. When did she tell you mmm? I'm not as stupid as she thinks I am, I know that you two somehow meet secretly when you're both in Arkham. She reports everything to you. Did she convince you to process Chloe because she saw that I wished to speak to her huh?"

"She did tell me of the times you'd wait by your cell every time she'd leave my sessions. I must say Edward, fixating on someone is not healthy, I keep having to tell Tech that."

"And you were aware of the actions Cat would take?" Nygma practically snarled, leading to Crane sighing irritably.

"Catherine is aware of the consequences of following her own agenda instead of mine." He replied coolly, "Hopefully she is reflecting on such behaviour now at Arkham." Nygma smirked, reaching for another Ferrero Roche. He often worried that his old friend had gone soft since picking up the neurotic young Cat Adams, but flashes such as this confirmed that Jonathan Crane was still very much, the cold hearted killer that was Scarecrow. He bit into the nutty chocolate shell, letting his tongue run over the orgasmic treat slowly, taking in its richness. However, something wasn't right. He stopped chewing and thought.

* * *

Lisa pulled away, scooting backwards to give herself as much space as possible from the dead woman. Chloe collapsed back down to the ground, throwing up. She had seen death tonight, she had seen Sophia Falcone shot in the head, but it hadn't affected her like this. Her mind spun. What the hell had she just seen? It had been a month since she had last seen Crane and Psyche separately, why was she still tortured over memories such as that? She had so nearly succumbed to them, for months, she had listened to Crane, feel empathy towards him. After all of it, after her sucky childhood and pig of a father, there was somebody who cared. On top of that, Psyche, that strange lunatic in the solitary confinement ward had been more supportive than her cold mother had ever been. Was it wrong to relate to them? Was it wrong to...to do what she had done?

"Chloe."

Chloe jumped in shock, her thoughts interrupted by the chubby girl with a thick fringe who was beginning to rise, looking intently at the door which had mechanically swung open.

"Chloe." She whispered again, "I think they want us to go through there."

"Bu...but the others?" Chloe looked around at the others desperately. None were awake, but all were screaming. Del Torro was the most animated.

"NO! I'M BURNING! IT HURTS! IT HURTS...PLEASE!" Lisa walked over to her and kicked her hard with her boot.

"She's out of it." She said stonily, "I'm guessing they'll all be like this..."

"I'd listen to the liar if I were you Miss Mandelson, if you were to stay in here, you would be in rather a large amount of danger of suffering the way six million others did before you."

Chloe and Lisa looked at each other, their mouths open in disgust.

"You're a monster." Lisa spat viciously, Chloe yelped a little. Lisa had become immune and numb to her surroundings, like it had been found in German citizens during the second world war. She had become numb and apathetic to the horror around her, and as a result, she had gotten brave. It was so different to scared Lisa, it was frightening. The tension in the room was thick and suffocating.

"Correct Miss. Wheaton." Scarecrow announced, "At least that's what my lawyer calls me, and he must be right if I pay him that much. But I digress. You two are to leave this room and go on to the next challenge without the others. Stay, and you'll receive a dose of zyclon B. Go however, and they might live..."

"What do you mean '_might'_ Crane?" Chloe asked desperately. Did she want to die? Did she want the others to die?

"Why, Schrödinger's Cat my dear." He explained coolly, "if you stay in this room, these girls will die but so will you. There's no two ways about it. If you carry on without them however, there is a chance that they may live, or I'll still press the button. This way however, your conscience is clear, they can be either alive or dead in this reality, and it'll make the horror of death less intense to you...The choice is yours of course, but make the decision fast, you're on a clock."

Lisa and Chloe looked at each other in horror. Could they face it? Could they take that chance and hope that Crane wouldn't kill the rest? Lisa began to shake.

"I don't want to die Chloe." She whispered desperately, "Let's go! We don't know these girls, I'm not going to die on the off chance this psycho might not kill us!" Chloe shivered automatically. Could she really leave these girls to their fate? Her mind raced, stay and die, or leave and live?

"Would I be like them if I left?" She thought desperately. In her mind, a conversation with Psyche.

_"How can you put up with Crane?" She asked Griffin, sat at her desk in her temporary office. It had taken a lot of organising, but she had managed to convince Leland that it was constructive to her report on Crane to also interview Griffin. Leland had dug her heels in at first, but then something happened. Griffin had revealed to a guard the whereabouts of where the mayor, going against Crane and the Joker. Clearly, Griffin was the key to understanding Jonathan Crane, leading to Chloe's request instantly being granted. Griffin smiled._

_ "You mean why am I still associated with him when I should fearing for my life right now?" She asked playfully. She was different to Crane, with Crane's sessions, he was so cold and silent. With Griffin however, she never shut up. "Ah, he'd never hurt me. Crane's loyal to those in his circle. Once, he ran back into a burning building to save Harley Quinn...he'd never hurt me."_

"I don't want to die Chloe." Lisa grabbed her arms and squeezed hard, shaking uncontrollably. Chloe seized her shoulders and stared at her hard. She had decided, the girls who hadn't come out of their nightmares, they could take their chances, but Lisa and her needed to stay together. She seemed so childlike and scared again, and Chloe needed to protect her from herself.

"We'll go." She said reassuringly, "Rosie's dead, I'm not letting you die." She would get Lisa out of there, Lisa was the only one to know what she had gone through, Lisa had been pulled into Crane and Griffin's dark games as well; they had to stick together.

"Come on. She said standing up straight and heading for the door. At the asylum, she was the psychiatrist, she was in charge. She wouldn't let this be no different. Lisa smiled and followed her nervously. Chloe took a deep breath, looking at the dark corridor through the door, she psyched herself up. Crane's cruel words from the last session they had ever had, but she would show him, she would survive just to spite him if needs be.

"Fuck you Crane." She whispered angrily, marching through the door.

Crane smiled from behind his mask. Chloe Mandelson was rebelling against it all. Clearly, not losing her mind over her darkest memory (after all that she had confessed to him when she was meant to be interviewing him, he was quite flattered that him and Catherine featured at all) had given her an inch of bravery. She thought that she was in control of the situation? He would see about that.

Chloe stepped into the darkness , shivering slightly. Her heart wasn't racing as fast as it had earlier, clearly the fear toxin was beginning to wear off. She turned to Lisa who was still stood in the room, looking out nervously.

"It's fine Leese, nothing's out he..." She began to say confidently. Unfortunately, she was cut off suddenly. The light from the room disappeared as the door mechanically slammed shut in her face. Chloe and Lisa both screamed loudly, the girl trapped in the room began pounding on the metal door desperately.

"CHLOE!" Screamed Lisa frantically on the other side of the door, "Chloe help me!" Chloe froze, hearing the bangs on Lisa's side. It was a deafening sort of bang, not as constant as if she was pounding with her fists on the door. She clearly now was ramming her shoulder against the door.

"Crane!" She screamed into the dark, "Let her out. Let her out now." Again, Crane clicked on the intercom.

"Please continue Miss Mandelson." His voice informed her. She gasped unintentionally, his voice had been damaged beyond recognition since her last session, even though in theory, he sounded like Angela Lansbury, he still terrified her.

"I'm not leaving her!" She replied, trying to sound strong, like he had make her feel in their sessions, but her voice cracked. It was too confrontational. No matter how brave she now felt, she was forgetting that she was talking to the man who could kill her with a flick of a switch.

"Oooh, what should I do?" She thought desperately, she had already made up her mind to leave the rest and take Lisa, but could she leave Lisa?

"Please continue Miss Mandelson." Crane repeated mechanically. That was it, no mockery, no sarcasm, just those four words. Chloe shook vivaciously and without control. Give her turning into Psyche, make her Crane's pawn. Anything but this.

"Will you kill Lisa?" She whispered painfully. Would the one girl who knew what Crane and Griffi...Adams...whatever Psyche was! She couldn't let her die.

"Please continue Miss Mandelson." It came again. Perhaps if Chloe played along, Lisa would be spared. She had to be spared...right?

"I'll be back Leese." Chloe promised. If she remained, then surely Crane would kill both her and Lisa. Surely if she backed off, nothing would happen...right?

_"You know Johnny's quite rational most of the time right?" Griffin chuckled from across the desk, "So many people ready to condemn him. Though manners do go a long way with Hannibal."_

Psyche's words buzzed around Chloe's head constantly. She had believed every word that came from Crane's girlfriend, the woman had nestled under her skin and invaded her mind. Crane was a psychotic murdering bastard, but Griffin was always so friendly, so warm to Chloe.

_"Jonathan loves talking psychology with you Chloe." She smiled kindly to a blushing Chloe._

_ "Does he? I mean...Miss Griffin, please..."_

_ "Call me Elizabeth Chloe, you're Jonathan's favourite pupil..."_

_ "Tell me how you and Crane benefit from your partnershi..."_

_ "He thinks you have great promise as a psychologist. Think he often wishes I had your flair..."_

Psyche had admitted to Chloe that Crane saw her as his equal in Psychology. Well, alright, she'd play his game. She'd play his game and she'd beat him at it.

"I am asking you respectfully Dr. Crane." She declared formally, "Don't kill the girls in that room and I'll carry on."

"Please continue Miss. Mandelson." Came her only reply. Chloe nodded.

"I promise you Lisa." She banged on the door hard to get the girl's attention, "I promise that I'll find a way to get you out of there.

"CHLOE! PLEASE DON'T GO!" She screamed frantically, resuming ramming herself into the door to break it down. Chloe shuddered. Even if she could get Lisa out, would Lisa, in all her childishness and weakness she had shown tonight, mean that she would actually survive? Perhaps she was safer in that room. Maybe, just maybe, Griffin would be right, and Crane wouldn't gas all of them with deadly poison. What purpose would that serve him? None.

"He won't hurt you. I promise." Chloe whispered through the door. She had been Crane's therapist, but she'd never given him a reason to want to kill her like others were known to do...right? She turned round, took a deep breath, and gingerly took a few steps down the long, dark, sinister corridor to what would more likely than not, be something directly aimed at her. She shivered as she remembered the last time she had seen Crane. It may have being a good idea to not tell Lisa exactly what happened.

Somewhere, a pipe leaked, causing the water to slowly drip onto the floor. The effect echoed throughout the corridor, causing Chloe to jump in shock. Placing a hand on the wall shakily, she gasped for breath.

"Stop imagining things." She commanded herself in her professional tone. One more step in front of the other, then another. She couldn't let fear rule her life. Crane and Psyche had taught her that.

Suddenly, a sinister hissing rang through her ears. It was coming from...from the room she was locked out of.

Screaming. Pure, unrestrained fear coursed out through the door and into Chloe's skull. Her mouth dropped open in horror and spun round back to the door. She had been wrong. Crane really had released poisonous gas into the air. He actually was going to kill the girls.

"LISA!" She screeched, clawing at the door, "You bastard Crane! You absolute bastard!"

"GET OFF ME!" Came a hysterical blubber from the other side "GET IT OFF MEEEE!"

Chloe gasped. It was Crane's fear gas, not poisonous as she had first feared...as he had led her to believe. He had gotten into her head again, just pre-empting her fear, but her thought process too.

"Hang on...that's not like Crane...that's like...Griffin!" She almost screamed the last part. Was Elizabeth Griffin there as well? Impossible! She had come from the asylum today! She had looked into Griffin's cell and seen her unconscious (nobody dared go inside, and those who did dared not look at her face lest they drop down dead on the spot. They merely made sure that she was still functioning and left). Was Griffin there in the room too?

* * *

Inside the computer room, Nygma turned back to Crane. Had the girl just screamed out Cat's alias? He looked to Crane angrily.

"I thought tonight was just you and me?" He huffed jealously. Crane turned his gas mask towards him.

"Of course, a study of how logic and reasoning are affected by fear." He replied simply.

"Then how come the bitch who betrayed yours and the Joker's plans, who's in a coma and not here is constantly BEING MENTIONED?" He yelled the last part. Crane sighed.

"Because she was the one to help concoct this scheme before we thought of using riddles and bringing you in." What was this? Psyche's hallmark was included in this as well? Edward put his hand to his forehead. Clearly what was going on between Jonathan and the bitch wasn't as clear cut a break up as it seemed. It was a mysterious riddle, and one which was driving Edward insane.

"So why take all these girls Jonathan?" He demanded, "Why choose them on the basis that all of them have wronged Cat and then, not take her with you when you broke out? Why is she in a coma right now? Have you come to your senses and cut ties with her after all these years? Why do you constantly switch from indifference when her name is mentioned to talking about nothing but her? I don't understand. TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!" To this, Crane slowly pulled his gauntleted glove off, took down his hood and undid his mask. Nygma stared into the ravaged, scarred face of Jonathan Crane. His hair was getting too long again, and his skin was yellowing and stretching over his face, as if he hadn't eaten in days. There was barely any trace of the handsome human who had so proudly walked the halls of Arkham all those years ago.

"That's a lot to take in Edward." He smiled arrogantly, "I'm afraid you'll have to ask again, one at a time. I've tried to be honest with you, you knew the hypothesis of tonight's proceedings, though I'm sorry you seem to be confused. Now, what do you want to know first?"

This calmness drove at Edward madly, now wasn't the time for the bastard to be so calm, how dare he act like this! He screamed wildly, pointing a finger at the screen where Lisa was now on the floor with everybody else, but with her eyes wide open and scrapping at her body, screaming frenziedly.

"Why the hell is she screaming louder than the rest did the first time they were sprayed?" He commanded frantically. To this, Crane snorted slightly, satisfied at the question.

"Placebo effect the first time." He said coolly. Nygma's eyebrows flew up in shock.

"You mean last time you didn't actually?"

"Oh no. Something that has always troubled Catherine and I: do I create the fear, or do the victims create it themselves? I must say, the results are...satisfactory."

"That's...brilliant!" Nygma exclaimed. Crane truly did have control over the girls completely, the idea was absolute genius (if he did say so himself), "But how is Catherine involved in this? How come..."

He was cut off however; all the screens began to flicker fuzzily before being completely snowed up. Lisa's screams were cut off, all images of the various challenges snowed under by the malfunctioning screens.

To say that Jonathan Crane isn't exactly known for his calmness when things went wrong is an understatement. Now was no exception.

"What the hell?" He screeched angrily. In his damaged voice, he didn't sound sinister or scary, he actually sounded rather funny, though Edward knew better than to laugh at that moment in time. His face crumpled into a disappointed frown.

"How strange." He commented, rubbing his chin. The night was going so well, how unfortunately improbable that the computers would crash.

"The doors are mechanic!" Crane yelped, jumping up nimbly from his seat, "Think about it! Mandelson could escape! Nothing's stopping Wheaton fro..."

"My dear Jonathan you can't!" Edward declared, rising from his seat, "You're not in costume! Imagine how the image would be ruined!" Crane raised a perfectly shaped black eyebrow up at this.

"And what do you suggest Edward?" He sarcastically asked coldly, "That you go and check?"

"Well, I am well versed in those escape routes dotted around the course. Besides Jonathan, that gun you've kept besides you this entire experiment must be a suggestion that you've ah...planned for some sort of hiccup."

Crane stroked the gun to his side, sighing.

"In case something went wrong with the girls and they broke into this room." He muttered bitterly, angry at himself for even daring to think of such a variable. In his head, Nygma was forming a plan. And he needed to jump on it.

"I'll go and keep the Mandelson girl busy." He declared, grabbing his golden cane, "She and I have unfinished business." Crane snorted slightly.

"Play nice Edward, there is still a night in front for her. I haven't gone to all this trouble to have you break her." To this, Edward clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

"My dear Jonathan, you mistake me for the Joker." Suddenly, Crane's look darkened.

"No, I just know what a man is capable of doing when he confronts a girl he thinks has betrayed him."

"Catherine was unworthy and a temptress." Nygma declared dramatically, in a sort of 'I told you so' crucifix pose (in his head, he probably thought that he looked sympathetic. All Crane could think? He looked like a right prat), "I knew that she would betray you one day, I just hope you made her pay."

Crane stayed silent as his companion left the room, eyes fixed on the blank, fuzzy screen. On hearing the door closed, he sighed and punched in the codes Tech had given him onto the keyboard, smiling in satisfaction as all the screens lit back up. Time for the secondary experiment, and for this, he had a front row seat.

* * *

**Mwhahaha cliffhanger! Apologise to Decepti-Kitty, I decided this bit would be a good place to leave off. All you Riddler fans, get ready for the next chapter, the scene you all wanted to happen is coming up next.**

**Schrödinger's cat is a meta philosophical experiment. Basically, if you put a cat in a sealed container with a canister of gas which more than likely will leak, is the cat dead as soon as you close the lid. Think of it as being both alive and dead because you can't see it. It makes my head hurt and thought that it's something Crane would put in (simply the ultimate Operation Mindfuck minus John Leslie to quote Frankie Boyle...anybody outside the UK youtube him with Operation Mindfuck, so controversial yet so funny).**

**And now we start explaining this story. See what I mean when I say nothing's what it seems? What's going on with Crane and Catherine? What happened in Arkham with Chloe and the two of them?...WHAT IS WITH EDWARD'S FASCINATION WITH GREEN?...ok, that question won't be answered, but it is something I've always wondered lol.**

**I'm quite proud of this chapter, I stuck in a very famous psychological experiment. If anybody knows which experiment I have eluded to in this chapter, stick it in your review and the winners will win an air guitar :P**

**Thanks to Rawhide for the news at your job, that's put a smile on my face ever since. Don't forget to fb me pics of her sometime xxxx**

**Merry Christmas to all my readers and fans, hope you have an amazing day tomorrow and Santa brings you all lots of presents (I'll settle for what I asked for on my birthday, but if nobody got me Cillian Murphy or Matt Smith wrapped in a bow then I doubt anybody will now). Sigh, though I will settle for people reviewing as a present from my readers **** Love you guys.**

**Artemis out (to watch TV and drink a lot of wine with the family. Ah, Christmas traditions xxxxx)**


	9. Aphephobia: Fear of Touch

**Aphephobia: Fear of Being Touched**

_"Jonathan used to work here you know." Griffin informed her, holding out a long finger and inspecting her nails (the sight of her destroyed finger pads never seemed to bother her as much as it did Chloe, as a matter of fact, once the woman had requested nail varnish from Chloe "To spuce myself up a bit" as if drawing any more attention to such atrocities was wise). Chloe tried hard not to roll her eyes._

_ "I know Elizabeth." She smiled brightly. She had heard this so many times now, from Arkham, from Crane himself, and now Griffin always felt the need to bring it up all the time. "Now, if you could just explain to me..."_

_ "You don't know though."Snapped Griffin, rising from her seat slightly, "If you did, think you'd head for the hills quicker..."_

_ "Excuse me?" Chloe asked, eyes widening slightly, eyebrows raised. To this, Elizabeth smiled a chilling, sinister smile._

_ "Well, sooner or later this place...gets you. Jonathan, Harley...Strange..."_

_ "What's strange?" Chloe mumbled. To her, everything about that set up was strange._

_ "A toad who's been forgotten by everyone and rightly so." Griffin almost snarled, "Trust me, this place turns everybody who works here eventually. Hell, it may even have turned me..."_

_ "You never worked here!" Chloe challenged. No way had Psyche been an employee. To this Psyche merely smirked._

_ "No way of telling. I may have been a nurse here, walking in everyday and seeing deconstructions of the world. Going back to so called normality every...single...night. It gives a woman a headache, I can tell you that."_

_ "So you're saying because it's supposedly happened to you, I'll go mad one day?" To this, Elizabeth laughed._

_ "Mad? Who said anything about madness?"_

_ "To end up diagnosed with insanity..."_

_ "A question that's always made me a bit hazy dear. Am I or the rest of society crazy? I think if you'd look into my life it's pretty ordinary..."_

_ "Killing all those people in the last bank job with Shyera Nygma though! Amongst them...Lord Frithelstock of England's son?" She countered, riffling through the notes to make sure that she had pronounced it right. That job had been quite different to any other job before involving Psyche, for one, there were no survivors. Not even children. Griffin carried on however as if there had been no interruption._

_ "And at the end of the day I get back and cook dinner because if I won't do it, nobody eats that night. So ordinary, except I don't feel like taking a shotgun off the wall and shooting myself with it before I go to bed, so you tell me, would it be so bad if I had learnt the truth about existence from working in Arkham? To be freed from such presumptions as the ones you've carted around since you were little? You don't feel like Daddy's judging your every move now as you were doing now are you? Since your meetings with Jonathan?"_

Chloe turned around and looked back down at the dark, narrow corridor. Inwardly, she was screaming. She was back in that claustrophobic corridor in Arkham, staring down and walking slowly towards Psyche's cell. She was so thrilled when Griffin was taken out of confinement and placed in another cell. There, it may have still been oppressive and locked down, but there were lights and Chloe didn't feel as if she was going insane.

Did Psyche have a point? She shook her head forcefully. Now was not the time to mull over such thoughts. It was awfully familiar though. She felt her heart race, just like it used to when she was walking to either one of the Couple of Fear's cells (she never saw them together. Arkham was keen that if either was to be rehabilitated then they had to be separated). She felt the same sense of fear as she used to, but it was also tinged with something else. At every session after the last, walking towards the next, she felt as if she was a scientist about to make a new, pioneering discovery. It would be fine to leave Lisa wouldn't it? The screams rattled around her head still, but she needed to keep walking.

_"You didn't take Dr. Crane with you when you escaped." Chloe countered. Never mind how she had been feeling since meeting Crane; her father wasn't important in this, "Why leave him behind and...do that?"_

_ "What? Kill those people?"She shrugged, "Would you believe either 'bitches be crazy' or 'needs must'? Either way, that's not the issue here, is it?" She sighed heavily and continued, "Because we both know the price of failure. Right now, I failed to resist my curiosity to talk to the girl who got Jonathan talking after weeks of not even talking to me. What happens? He'd probably kill me next opportunity he gets. That's not the point though..."_

_ "And what IS the point?"_

_ "That if I wanted the city, Jonathan would bend it to my will, and if he wanted the moon I'd take my shoes and not stop till I suffocate trying to get it for him, but if either of us fails, then we're on our own. That's why I didn't rescue him last time. Probably a good thing too..."_

_ "Because you teamed up with Shyera Nygma and you never team up with anyone without Dr. Crane ther..." To this, Elizabeth slammed her hand down on the desk furiously._

_ "That wasn't a fucking team up. I'd never team up with that fucking child! You think I'd lower myself to help that bitch?" Chloe jumped back. It was the first time the usually so placid Griffin had given the impression that she would attack her. _

_ "I...I'm sorry." She whimpered, raising her hands up involuntarily to protect her face. The door burst open. The security guards came running in to drag her away._

Chloe shivered. She had forgotten about that session after Psyche had been captured, after the now infamous bloodbath at Gotham First Bank. So Psyche and Scarecrow abandoned each other too? They abandoned each other despite loving each other? God, she really was turning into them if she so easily left Lisa behind.

"Get out of my head!" Chloe whispered, putting her hands to her temples. How could she leave Lisa like that? Her screams still echoed down the hallway, and she had left her, like the monster she had nearly been sucked in by. Nearly.

Suddenly, in the darkness, a voice came from nowhere. At first, Chloe thought madly that it was Crane's old voice, but it wasn't low, drawling and cold. It was polished, calm...

"Between cities and countryside

Hunted and murdered in each

Crushed underfoot or drowned in a well

Better pray with your last breath that you're freed from this hell.

What are you?"

Chloe leapt sideward, shock pulsed through her like electricity frying her veins. A panel on the wall flew open to reveal a hidden door. Somebody leapt through it like an arched panther, eyes set on his prey. Pinning Chloe up against the wall with his left hand tightly wrapped around her throat. She screamed in sheer agony...at least, as much as she could before he squeezed so hard that only a pathetic, gargling squeak escaped her lips.

"Answer me." He commanded petulantly, "What are you?"

Chloe's mind raced desperately. What was going on? Where had this new person come from? Madly, whilst her mind flat lined and her mind buzzed, all that she could numbly, inexplicably focus on was what he had just said. City and countryside? Hunted and murdered...in the chaos, the only reasoning and sense came in the form of a riddle...crushed or drowned in a well...

"A mouse." She croaked. This was it. She was going to die, and all that she could take comfort in was that she had answered a question. She hadn't failed. She hadn...

"Well done my dear. That is indeed, correct." The voice said brightly, letting go of her throat. Chloe collapsed on the floor in a heap, coughing roughly. Her eyes opened slowly, praying desperately that this was still just a bad dream. Unfortunately for her however, her eyes met a pair of feline green. They weren't the same as the dead, blue ones of Crane, or the insane dark ones of Psyche. They were however, as dangerous as theirs all the same. In the depths of her mind, she was back in Arkham. These were the eyes of he who she had forgotten.

"Y...you!" she exclaimed. Edward Nygma smiled, bowing deeply.

"Glad you remember me now...Claire." he grinned sinisterly, eyeing her up hungrily. Even though he had all but forgotten this small woman months ago, that didn't matter. He had clocked her first, how dare Scarecrow and that bitch Psyche think that they could use her for their amusement. Inwardly, his anger and indignation bubbled gently, but outside, he kept smiling at her. It didn't matter now, he told himself, Crane couldn't do anything now, and Catherine was well and truly out of the picture. Now, the girl was his. She however, didn't seem to appreciate this honour.

"I'm...I'm Ch..Chlo..."

"Are you saying..."

He stopped mid sentence, catching for the briefest of seconds a glance at what he looked like in her eyes. She was staring at him horrified, pressing herself against the wall. He looked intently into her eyes, emerald green almond shaped ones, so resembling his own (and of course, in Edward Nygma's mind, they were therefore the most beautiful eyes in the world). He took her in hungrily. Her hair was different to when he last remembered seeing her in Arkham, her light blonde streaks had given way to a natural, very light brunette colour, and the girly skirt had been replaced with dark blue jeans and a thin black coat, but she was still the same woman he had clocked months ago, still the same intelligent girl (well, intelligent enough to answer his riddles tonight anyway). However, in Edward Nygma's mind, how beautiful she may or may not of been didn't really matter. The most eye-catching thing to him, was the insult he had to correct. As much as he respected Jonathan Crane as a friend and fellow with intelligence almost close to his own, he had spoken to Chloe Mandelson (how could he have forgotten her name? Perhaps it was her own fault, why couldn't she have a memorable name?) first. He had spoken to her before Crane and his lapdog Catherine; therefore it was simply insulting for either of them to even dare considering smothering this jewel with their fingerprints (or lack of in Psyche's case). This need to reclaim what was his, to correct this insult to his and the girl's honour (not that she really mattered, but she could at least act grateful to even be considered by him) and reclaim what was rightfully his. He felt excitement bubbling in his stomach. Brushing off the defiance she had just shown him (had she not screamed out Catherine's name? It was not the girl's fault that she had picked up some of Cat's attitude. Well, that could easily be sorted out. No, he had to tread carefully here). In the back of his mind, his unanswered riddle to Psyche whispered eerily in his mind

"_I am regarded by some as noble. _

_Others, I am the embodiment of the family clan. _

_Beware however, I am the downfall of cities and empires_

_What am I?"_

Fear was Crane's tactic at taking over people, for seducing the dull and unworthy Catherine Adams. He would be cleverer than to use such a dull and predictable tool, and he wouldn't mess up. "Forgive me...my dear." He whispered, leaning in to the girl with one hand on his golden question mark cane, offering a hand.

"Jesus, Buddha, it doesn't matter,

I can be special to one or all,

Turn over a stone and I'll be there,

Lay down a piece of wood and there you will find me,

Fireman's arms or a doctors hand,

I'm found anywhere you wish throughout this land.

What am I?"

* * *

Chloe looked up at the red haired man in disbelief. He had just tried to asphyxiate her and now, he was pretending to be a god? No wait...a fireman and a doctor wasn't a god...so why had he quoted the gospel of Jesus at her?

Again, in utter chaos, in a hall where Lisa's shrieks still ricocheted off the walls, he who she now fully remembered, he who she had imagined to be gentile, welcoming and intelligent...he who had made her laugh... was there. She stared at him, grasping onto the only piece of reality. The proof that there were people outside of the game; men were real, not just images flickering on a screen or disconnected voices on a loudspeaker.

"Mr..mr... Riddler?" She whispered nervously. She shakily looked up at the leaning man, time itself standing still. Her body froze itself fast, but inwardly, her heart was racing faster and faster until she was sure it was merely buzzing. Edward Nygma gaze remained fixed on her, taking her in completely. Suddenly, his stony gaze broke, and a smile silently appeared. Chloe let herself exhale. Whenever Crane or Psyche smiled, it meant that all was calm...only, their smiles were muted...it was slightly unnerving to see Edward Nygma's toothy gri...

"Answer me." He suddenly growled threateningly (his dangerous smile never leaving his face). Chloe yelped, terrified. He was so close, she could smell him and his cologne. Her throat constricted, the strong, spicy aroma irritated her throat, begging to heave with dry coughs. Her eyes stung and watered at the overpowering stench, but she wouldn't cough, she wouldn't sniff, she wouldn't even blink. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

* * *

Edward couldn't believe it. The girl was staring up at him with shiny, tear filled eyes of adoration. She clearly was penitent for forgetting about the genius that was himself; penitent for replacing him at what should have been her top priority, with that dull, skeletal scarecrow that was Jonathan Crane and his hussy Cat. She was staring at him wide eyed, frozen on him and him alone. Inwardly, he twitched in excitement. After months, that which had been denied to him was inches from him, and this time, Jonathan could do nothing from that control room of his. Despite this however, he could feel himself get more and more annoyed. Why was she taking so long to answer? When he asked Shyera a riddle, he could always guarantee that she would answer him post haste. Why wasn't this...Chloe, being as reliable as Shyera was? The girl finally opened her mouth. Finally, he thought as he quivered in excitement. He leaned in closer, closer; he almost felt himself sweat in anticipation for an answer. Only the most privileged were allowed to get his riddles right. This girl was one of them, he could feel it.

"I...I have a riddle for you Mr. Nygma. It's my turn to tell one now." She said rather unexpectantly, he voice so scratchy and hoarse compared to that polite voice she had in Arkham. Edward was shocked to say the least, wobbling slightly on his cane in astonishment.

"Why...this is a bolt out of the blue little mouse." He declared haughtily. In his head, he knew that the woman deserved a backhand for such defiance against him, but this notion was instantly bulldozed when he realised something more important, something irresistible.

She had challenged him to answer a riddle. Edward faltered, this was highly unorthodox, but at the same time...a riddle! How could he not accept her challenge?

The girl continued staring up at him. He felt his mind whirl. To be exposed to Catherine, he had been worried that this rare find had been tainted by that Lady Gaga obsessed fool and be all show and no substance, but to challenge him to a riddle? She clearly was still the same intelligent girl (of course she was, she had been singled out by he himself hadn't she?). He laughed jovially, breaking the atmosphere and covering the noise of Lisa's agonised screams in the other room.

"Really? A riddle for me? Tell me!" He demanded, leaning in much further. He decided that if the girl's riddle was passable, he would help her up. The floor was worthy for dogs, not somebody who could match wits with the Riddler. The girl gazed up at him, eyes shining. Suddenly, she bowed her head, light brown tresses falling over and covering her emerald eyes. She seemed so delicate, so cold, like an early spring morning clinging to the remnants of winter.

"What is the difference between a riddle and a joke?" She whispered, head still bowed. This surprised Edward to say the least. Straightening up a little, he retorted:

"Why, a riddle is far superior! It requires cunning, wit and..."

"Incorrect." She simply stated, muting him right there and then. He was wrong? He was never wrong!

"What? It can't be! It's true, a riddle requires intelligence and..."

"A punch line!" She shouted suddenly, punching Edward rather low down, and quite hard too. He squealed sharply, turning white at the explosion of pain. He shut his eyes and sunk to the ground, dropping his cane as he clutched himself tightly. Chloe scooted back, gasping wildly, she needn't of worried, the Riddler couldn't see anything but the explosion of stars as he kept his eyes tightly shut in case the girl misinterpreted his watering eyes.

* * *

Crane and the Scarecrow, who had been dividing their eyes between the screen with the hysterical Wheaton woman and the pantomime that was unfolding with Edward and the damn child. Seeing the Riddler sink to the ground was enough for the Scarecrow to sink to the floor in hysterical glee.

"Now, THAT is what I call smooth." The Scarecrow hooted off the floor. Jonathan looked down at him stoically.

"Scarecrow, show some class will you?" He demanded, his voice unintentionally making him sound like a pouting child. Scarecrow looked up from the floor, rolling his eyes.

"Jeez Johnny-Boy, get that stick out of your ass would you? You have to admit, this is funny."

Indeed, Jonathan did find this funny, but it was rather uncouth to display emotions as blatantly as Scarecrow was doing now. "Just get up will you? You're embarrassing..."

"There's nobody here Johnny-Boy, relax a little will you?" Scarecrow interrupted, "Come on, if Cat was here..."

"If Catherine was here," Jonathan countered, "She'd have her eyes on the monitor and taking notes." To this, Scarecrow sniggered as he got up off the floor and seated himself on the arm of the chair like a mischievous feline.

"If Cat was here, she'd call you a twat at not finding this funny and be on the floor with me..."

"So...herself in essence?" Jonathan snapped. He knew Scarecrow was right, but he didn't need reminding that his companion and the Scarecrow probably would be laughing at his expense right now had she been there. Scarecrow guffawed, pulling himself up.

"Don't feel bad Johnny, at least the night's running as smoothly as you both pl...woah, hold the phone." He suddenly forced Jonathan to leap to the screen with Lisa. Things had gone to the next level, time to cut Eddie's playtime short, which was a shame, it was starting to get rough, much to Scarecrow's (and Jonathan's though he'd never admit it) delight.

"Time for Chloe's next test." Jonathan declared aloud, time for Edward to stop embarrassing himself more like. Scarecrow clicked his tongue, settling back on the chair whilst Jonathan bothered with the technical stuff.

"You know, you had a point earlier." He mused to Jonathan's back, "How would that get up Edward's ginger ass if we'd have Shyera in this?" Jonathan deliberated this briefly, a thoughtful look passing over his yellowing face.

"You know what? I do believe that she'd cry and scream for her...father, to help her." He decided. Scarecrow chortled.

"Really? I'd have thought judging by how much she'd like to thrash our not so better half, she'd survive this." To this idea however, Jonathan dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"Shyera Nygma doesn't possess the capacity to know that she's about to die." He stated breezily, "Catherine's right, it's all a game to her. She's wherever right now, leading the winged nuisance on a game instead of being here with Edward. Do you really think she'd not throw up when Falcone got it? Or seeing the police girl ripped to shreds? Granted, she may possess more brain cells than any other eighteen year old, but to see the things we do? I think it's a splendid idea to put her in this little assault course, she may develop into the criminal Edward thinks she is, but most probably, she'd be that annoying anomalous result because she'd scream for Edward to help her, like she does whenever Catherine tests her, and that sort of reliance...I seriously can't be doing with that in this experiment." Scarecrow pondered on this for a second, then nodded. He was in the same boat as Cat, Shyera Whatever-She-Claimed-Her-Name-Was was an annoying child, and Crane's soft spot for her and her 'hidden strength and potential' could only be described as gay.

"Well, I'd get her Daddy back now." Scarecrow replied, pointing at Lisa's screen, "Unless you want the star performer to miss out because you went philosophical and retarded."

* * *

"He's down! Finish the job!" Chloe's subconscious screamed at her. Snapping herself out of her bewilderment, she lunged, arms outstretched to the cane.

"And in case you were wondering," She screamed frenziedly, raising the legendary golden cane above her, "The answer was...A SAVIOUR!" Before slamming the metal down on the prostrate villain.

Unexpectedly however, a purple gloved hand shot up, grabbing the cane roughly. Chloe barely had time to yell unexpectantly as Edward Nygma twisted the weapon, causing Chloe to roll sideward. Edward snapped his eyes open; despite being partially obscured by a film of sweat in his eyes, he could make the girl out clearly enough, and she needed to be punished. Climbing on top of her, he growled:

"My my, what a fiery nymph you are." In a seductively low voice.

If he was the Joker, or the Scarecrow, he knew that he would in reality, slit her throat for such a deed, but in his mind, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Such dirtying actions should only be reserved for the plebs of society; the unworthy ones who didn't have the mental capacity to match wits with him, but this girl, this thing which had the English whore's germs all over her, was answering them! How could he kill somebody like that? Somebody...who was his anyway? He, Edward Nygma was many things, but somebody who broke his own property? Now where was the sense in that? He thrust his hands back to her throat, squeezing harder than the last time. This caused the girl to 'ack' unintentionally.

"Fiery my ass you patronising git." She choked, struggling against him.

"Perhaps I should show you just how dangerous I really can be?" He snarled, leaning into her. So she was giving a little sass? He would soon sort that out.

Chloe went to scream, but Nygma pressed down harder. She gargled desperately, the floor began spinning.

"This is it." A voice in her head echoed, "This is how it'll end." Madly, in delirium , she couldn't distinguish who's voice it was in her head. Jonathan Crane's? Psyche's? Or even perhaps, her own?

_"Are you and Crane ever scared when you go on a job?" She asked Griffin timidly. It was funny, Crane would only speak about his work and never about Psyche. Psyche however, never spoke about work but happily spoke of her adoration for Scarecrow. Psyche however raised an eyebrow._

_ " I can't speak for Jonathan, but for me...kind of."_

_ "Kind of?" Psyche smiled philosophically._

_ "Course you have to have at least a bit of awareness when you do a job. The adrenaline rush you feel, the alertness? Most would describe that as fear. I think that's a load of bull though to be honest."_

_ "So..."_

_ "I'd only be scared if I feared death." Griffin smirked. This shocked Chloe to hear._

_ "You don't fear death?" This led to Griffin's large dark eyes rolling exasperatedly._

_ "Only those with unresolved issues are scared of death." She replied simply._

_ "Unresolved iss..."_

_ "Ues, yes." She carried on, "In the grand scheme of things, everyone's dead. Now, would I prefer not to die? Maybe, but if I did, the world would carry on spinning. Why would I fear the inevitable? Only those who suddenly have an epiphany that they've wasted their life fear death."_

What had she done? She had been taken straight in by Crane and chewed up, that was what she'd done with her life. She had let her father destroy her childhood and Crane and the apparent Catherine Adams had shown her the right way...before destroying her adulthood. She kept her eyes fixed on his. There was no way of connecting with the man, he was far off in a world of his own. This was it, the felt herself thrash much slower now, she really was blacking out. She couldn't keep this fight up for much longer. She would die hearing Lisa's...wait. Why wasn't Lisa screaming anymore?

"That's enough Riddler." Crane's voice suddenly boomed into the hallway, breaking Edward's fix and causing him to sit upright, releasing a flagging Chloe. "That's enough, it's all back online. Come back at once please." To this, Edward snarled.

"Damn it! It's not fair!" Edward moaned cantankerously, raising his fist to the camera, "You've done that on purpose Jonathan, I..."

"Edward." Chloe sat up and almost yelped, she had never heard Crane's voice sound so dangerous, even before the new sound, "We are back online and the next test is about to start, now kindly get back here."

Chloe shuddered, she had come this far to death or whatever the hell that was, and she felt...numb. Had she had time to make her peace with the world? She wasn't sure. What was certain though, was that she could certainly see what Psyche had meant, death seemed so...unimportant. If what had just had happened needed to be described, was it...liberating?

She looked up to look at Edward, such a surreal experience to be shared with a man like Scarecrow. Her throat tightened back up again however, as the red haired man in green had seemingly vanished into thin air.

A metallic banging brought her back into the twisted reality she was in. She twisted to look behind her from the floor, back to the door which had just locked her out. It swung back open, revealing to Chloe the inhabitants she had left behind. However, when the scene was fully revealed to Chloe, her eyes widened in horror.

"Lisa!" She screamed, pulling herself up from the floor. Alas, any ideas she may have had involving running back into the middle of the dreadful scene were cut off immediately with a cool, cold:

"Take one step closer, and I cut her throat."

* * *

**Hee hee cliffhangers! I'm evil I know lol. Firstly, apologise for this being up late (that means you Horsewhisper, believe this was meant to be up a few days ago lol), hope this answers a few questions...oh who am I kidding? It raises fresh new ones hee hee**

**As for Chloe and the Riddler...didn't say it'd be a fluffy romance did I? Personally, I think this relationship is and will turn out to be far more twisted and dark than anything I wrote in Psyche, so my advice is: Don't expect romance and you won't be disappointed**

**To my new number 1 fan Kuro, tried to get in touch with you but you don't do PM, so I'll say now: Thankyou so much for the email. It definatley made my day :) Do you know the answer to Eddie's riddle to Cat which has being repeated in this chapter?**

**Panda: Thanks for the review :) No, I'm not going to do a Riddler story for Chloe after I've done this, I'm going to return to Melinoe. Though don't worry, Eddie and Chloe will turn up in it once in a while (Chloe plays a rather importaint part to the plot later on in Melinoe)  
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**Right, time for me to disappear again. Exam month then assessed seminars and essays before focusing on a lovely dissertation (how fun my life is), thanks to everyone for their patience with me, but until I get paid for this, university takes priority. **

**Don't forget to review**

**See you on the otherside**

**Artemis out**

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	10. Hormephobia Fear of shock

**Dear Fanfic**

**I want to thank all of my readers out there for being so patient with me. I wish I could write this story properly, but I'm afraid my degree has to take priority and so I know how annoying it must be for all of you waiting for a chapter. Furthermore, recently received a death threat for my first ever fic (what really happened in the morgue), not for the wonky as hell layout (those who have been with me since Psyche know what I'm on about), or the bad grammar, or even the fact that I got so into the story I forgot to finish a sentence (How I never got flamed for that I'll never know). No, my unforgivable crime was...I made Batman out to be a complete tool. Yeah, that's pretty anti climatic to me too. Next time I'm threatened with hanging, please can it be for something cool like treason, or kidnapping Christopher Nolan before he agrees to cast Crane and Riddler as the main villains for the next film (for anyone who's interested, Tom Hardy's going to be Bane)?**

**But, don't say I don't pander to an audiences requests (even if I'm not a batman writer, I'm a villains writer instead). So I am bringing this chapter forward instead of waiting to release it later on in the story. For all those out there who've been waiting for an update and for anybody who wants more of the Bat, this one's for you.**

**Artemis **

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**Hormephobia- Fear of shock**.

"Batman."Batman raised his head to the monitor above the dashboard. He was back in the Bat mobile, this was the third bomb he had stopped Margaret Whitlock from detonating, and now he was racing down the freeway towards the obvious answer of the last riddle. Inwardly, he was seething; this night couldn't possibly get any worst. All those people who would have met their end tonight, and Whitlock (he would never call her Nygma, what would happen after her rehabilitation if she was still tied to him) didn't give a damn about anybody she was hurting. The last job at the bridge was worst; those people tied up on the road, bound together and unable to escape, with explosives tied to the wires of the bridge. All those lives depended on him, and yet Whitlock had flown off laughing. Flown off. Scarecrow was clearly involved, but how could Psyche be? Bruce snarled inwardly; he would never catch Margaret in those rocket boots. Looking at the screen which Commissioner Gordon had just appeared on, he nodded.

"Jim." He growled simply, "Whitlock is heading for the old museum of Crime and Punishment. Have your men position themselves outside. I'm taking her in this time." Gordon nodded, massaging his temples.

"Its madness tonight." He declared gruffly, venting his frustration angrily to Batman, "The families of the missing women are stepping up their campaigns to find their daughters. Who has to tell them we have nothing huh? Me! And of course its personal with the boys, I have everyone going mad trying to find Turpin. I gotta tell you, those guys look out for each other, I have no idea how they'd react if we don't recover her..."

"Well find her Jim. Well find her and all the others, we just need to trap Whitlock. Get her, and shell lead us to Nygma and Crane..."

"And Griffin."Gordon sighed. "Sorry to say, this just got worst."

"And Gri...WHAT?" Bruce choked . He slammed his foot on the brakes less he crash into a wall. Had he just heard correctly? That was impossible!

"Griffin's in Arkham Jim. She's been in a coma for over a week! She's been in Arkham since Crane left without her! You have to be mistak..."

"I got a call from Arkham." Jim sighed, this night was too surreal, "One of their night staff, a nurse called Charlotte Grey?"

"Go on." Batman growled, digging his fingers into the steering wheel. Psyche had slipped through the cracks again apparently, but how had she managed it this time?

"She hasn't returned to work since last week, her flatmate reported her missing two days ago..."

"What has this got to do with Psyche?" Batman asked, closing his eyes in dread of what was coming. If he knew Cranes partner, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Arkham has just called. We've found...we've found her in Griffin's cell. You remember the bruises she was found with the night after Crane had escaped? Charlotte Grey was covered in them..."

_Oh god, _Batman thought desperately, yet maintaining his straight face. Gordon carried on.

"Surgery. Its crudely done, the nose job has become infected and swollen...though with the injuries she presented and claimed Crane did to her, they were easy to pass Greys off as her own. Her brown eyes? They're just contact lenses. Lenses which have been in much longer than they're meant to be. Nobody would have thought that her eyes were infected, they'd just think they were her injuries..."

"Is she...alive?" Bruce managed to choke out. Psyche had stolen a person and inflicted such injuries on her...operating on her herself? Bruce could barely comprehend the basic tools she had used for such DIY surgery. Perhaps it was better that Grey was dea...

"Yes."Jim confirmed, "She's in a coma though. We took the lenses out ...her eyes are moving, but her body's petrified...it looks like a botch patch of fear toxin..."

"I've heard of that strain." Batman growled, "Traps the victim in their own bodies...they scrapped it because it was a paralyser, it didn't induce the fear they wanted."So she was alive...that bitch. How could these people inflict such suffering on their fellow man and not feel remorse. He paused slightly. Would Psyche feel remorse? She had done only a few weeks ago, he had seen a glimpse of it just before the police van door slammed on her and a shrieking Whitlock. She had spilt so much innocent blood that day and was laughing about the number of children in that when he and the cops had arrived, but for one moment, when she knew that only he was looking, she had allowed a single tear to slip down her cheek a fraction of a second before she was out of sight. Was Grey allowed the luxury of Psyches tears?

"She's been there a week you say?"He managed to say after what seemed forever. On the monitor, Jim nodded.

"None of the orderlies or medical staff bothered to check her properly. Those bastards. Tomorrow, I swear I'm going to have a word with Arkham about the running of that hell hole...Batman? She'd even gone to town on Grey's fingers...she's sick...they're all sick..."

Right, this collaboration of the Couple of Fear and the father and 'daughter'team needed to be broken up. No more people were going to suffer because of their games.

"To the museum now Jim." He snarled, "Whitlocks not getting away this time." The Commissioner nodded.

"You don't think Griffins with him right now do you?" He questioned his friend, raising an eyebrow. To this, Wayne shook his head.

"If she was with Crane, she would never have let Whitlock have her rocket boots Jim." He growled, "But I'm sure she's near to him, whatever going on tonight...we will find Rosie, Jim."Gordon had already hung up however, it didn't need saying that he was thinking the same thing too.

"Damn you Adams." He snarled in the solitude of his car, starting the engine up again. The injuries...the sadness...the mouring Crane's abandoment. They had all been lies."I swear, you won't prove me wrong."Inside however, his heart was beating fast, the shock of Gordon's revelation coursed through him, adrenaline almost poisoning him. Oh he would capture Whitlock, and then he would make Catherine Adams pay...wherever she was.

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**EVIL SMILE I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. This story is now starting to lead to its glorious crushendo (and hopefully it'll be done by New Year lol). Hope you enjoyed this admittedly short chapter. Don't blame me, results tomorrow, I just wanted to take my mind off them.**

***Maggie Whitlock was Shyera Nygma's birth name pre life of crime**

**As always, please review (and welcome to my new readers who've added The Game to story alerts. You guys rock)**

**Artemis out**

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	11. Optophobia: Fear of Opening One's Eyes

**Chapter 11 Optophobia- Fear of opening one's eyes.**

**Hi Fanfic! First, my apolgies for disappearing like that, but the good news, university is over and moi graduated with what I wanted, then all the fun stuff that happens after uni had to be sorted out but back now :D Happy Day of the Dead too, felt this was a fitting day to put up this chapter (ok, was meant to be up for Halloween...shoot me :P)****  
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Jonathan Crane never did see the appeal of team ups. Comics, to sell their now tired out, reused swill usually teamed Captain America up with somebody completely opposite like Deadpool so that hilarity would ensue and the fan boys would be happy (he had long since passed the phase where he stole money to buy comics so was now able to comment on the uselessness of such rubbish). However, a team up of the Rogues Gallery usually resulted in poetry in motion; today was such poetry. This assault course was indeed, a feast of fear and manipulation, a truly worthy challenge of the mind which couldn't have been achieved without Nygma's challenges. Yes, whilst he had over the years, grown weary of Harley, developed sheer ennui towards Pamela and her constantly trying to tell Catherine that any type of sex was rape (a mantra which was now so worn out and pointless, Crane no longer got angry) and nothing but contempt for the clown, he still appreciated Edward's ability to think on his wavelength. If only he could improve Nygma's personality so that he didn't throw his toys out of the pram at every little thing. Looking up at Edward coming back into the room, he smirked.

"Interrupting the experiment for your own gains Edward?" He began coughing. Damn this voice. He should have listened to Catherine when she begged him to wear a gas mask. And setting up this experiment had been the final straw for his vocal chords it seemed. He ignored Edward's pitying looks and looked back to the screen "I'm glad you left the subject, this part is esse..."

"She's not a subject. She's my property." Edward snarled at Crane. "You dare take a girl of such intelligence an.."

"Let's just stop right there Edward. Just because she can answer some riddles, does not make her intelligent. This next task however..." He sneered, "Will either prove this night a success or a failure. Despite you contaminating the experiment with external factors." Inside, he was laughing. The secondary and third hypothesise were beginning to play out nicely, shame the next stage had begun before Edward could truly prove his suggestions right. Still, he was here now, and Crane needed to entice the master of puzzles further. "If you really think she's worth anything Edward, watch this next clip. If tonight has been building up to anything, it's this."

* * *

"_Take one step closer and I cut her throat"_

It was unbelievable. Chloe felt her mouth fall open and a hoarse scream escaped her lips, her neck still reeling from the Riddler's onslaught. She had seen so many weird, horrendous and bizarre things tonight, but it seemed the horrors would just keep coming. Panicking, she sensed the danger in the newly revealed room and held her hands up in a spontaneous, half baked gesture of surrender and peace offering.

"Don..." She rasped, seizing her throat in pain, but her eyes never left the horror in front of her. It didn't help though.

"I mean it bitch." Zara snarled. She clutched her handful of Lisa's hair roughly, digging a newly revealed pair of scissors threateningly into the nape of Lisa's neck; threatening to pierce the skin, yet not hard enough to draw blood. Chloe squeaked hoarsely. This was it, Zara had snapped and she had drawn the battle lines. Around her, the rest of the girls were still under the influence of the nightmare toxin, screaming, rolling on the floor, their eyes were wide open, but glazed. In the middle, Zara was an island of her own insanity; Lisa whimpered, her unwilling hostage; Chloe continued to stare at her nonplussed, her heart racing.

"Where the hell did you get those from?" She demanded, this night was starting to make her head hurt. Why the hell was that insane woman carrying a pair of scissors? Where had she been hiding them?

Zara began to cackle madly. Her body was still swimming with toxin, and she felt her heart racing at a hundred miles an hour. It was difficult to piece together what had happened; she knew that she had been coming back from yet another dull shift at the hairdresser's before it had all gone dark and she had woken up in the room with the girls. Those bitches. Those bitches were in on the game with the psychos watching them. She had woken from a horrifying trance of her being on fire, to see that Wheaton girl, that bitch who had taunted her, held her own encounter with Jonathan Crane up in front of her mockingly. She had met Crane, this Mandelson girl had met him too...this wasn't a coincidence.

Yes, at the beginning, she'd foolishly believed that this was actually a test. It had to have been right? She remembered being obsessed with him and doing anything to grab his attention.

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_Nobody took her seriously. The high school dropout who cleaned up other people's hair clippings in some dank hairdressers in the backward part of Gotham. All her life, Zara had been a nobody. Born to immigrant parents fleeing communist Cuba, she had learnt from a young age that life was shit, and thus, you would be treated like shit. For years now though, she had found solace in one thing and one thing only: The Scarecrow. It was funny; everyone looked to the Batman for their inspiration for a better life, but somehow, she was more drawn to the villains, especially he who rode around on a horse through the streets of Gotham like a knight in the Mills and Boon books she often read on her lunch breaks. He was rejected by society too, and yes, he was a little rough around the edges, but he just needed somebody...a strong Latino woman whom they would both benefit from each other's company. That had been the dream when he had first emerged as the Master of Fear, to join him in grinding down the gringos of Gotham and every other ungrateful bitch whose hair she had to cut day in day out. He made people notice him, she'd have made an ideal Mistress. Unfortunately, as she watched his career, like seeing your favourite actor hook up with that actress you don't like and having it splashed all over MTV, she saw Jonathan Crane pair himself with unworthy bitches. First, there was Becky Albright, the skinny ginger child with the audacity to turn against him and reject the ultimate offer: To join him. Who in their right mind would reject both him and this offer? After this, Albright disappeared from public, probably in witness protection or something like that (Zara trawled the internet and the paper obsessed to find some information, but nothing came of it). True, she'd only been 14 when this had happened, but still, age didn't matter when it came to love right? All she needed to do was meet him._

_He betrayed her though; he never waited for her to meet him. A few years ago, he went into hiding and then, upon re-emerging, she was with him. Elizabeth Griffin, aka: Psyche was worst than Albright because she actually stayed with Scarecrow, after all these years, they were still together. Each newspaper report, each TV special on the news, was a slap in Zara's face. Yes, each and every time she saw the God of Fear and Lady Screamer together, was just another reminder that she had missed out on the chance to join the Scarecrow. She didn't know why he'd bestowed such an honour upon Griffin. A big nosed, skinny, sour bitch with no personality, covered in scars and body hair to resemble a baby gorilla...what the hell did she have over Zara? This drove her crazy! Of course, when Jonathan noticed her, then he'd chuck Griffin and take up his Latino Scream Queen instead...right? She'd planned her introduction to him well. The opening of a new all night clinic in the upper east side of the Narrows was well chosen so that he would see it, wherever he was; after all, every time that murderous vigilante (she didn't care what cover up or U-turn the police did, racist corrupt group of bastards if there ever was who buried the murder of Harvey Dent from all those years ago) beat up her beloved Scarecrow, there were always reports of a pharmacy or something like that being raided the following morning, so he clearly kept tabs on all new all-nighter pharmacies in this area of Gotham. _

_It was the perfect plan. Go there and send a message out to him that she was ready now to take her place by his side. Ok, so when she got there, there was just the journalist from the local grocery store rag and the dead end sap from local news, but that was enough. Jumping in front of the cameras, she tore her clothes off and screamed "ATTENTION GOTHAM, THIS GOES OUT TO MY LORD THE SCARECROW. LOOK AT ME! I AM YOUR TRUE MISTRESS OF FEAR..." At this point, she was tackled by the store owner and a general passerby who attempted to cover her up with her coat. No, she thought. This was her declaration to him. She had to be noticed by him now. Bursting out of their grip, she grabbed the camera which was still recording and screamed into it "Johnny my darling, look at me. I'm your true partner...not Psyche...LOOK AT MY LEGS FOR ONE! AREN'T THEY BETTER THAN THOSE MATCHSTICKS?" At this point, the policeman overseeing the opening of this clinic grabbed her roughly whilst the cameraman wrestled his equipment away from her and she was quietly led away (whilst the crowd had collapsed in hysterical laughter). Yes, she'd become an internet laughing stock, and her appearance overshadowed the opening of the new all night free clinic, but all that had mattered was that he'd noticed...he had to have seen her on tv...right?_

_A few weeks later, she was walking back from the hardware store with a canister of gasoline for the BBQ being held at her friend's home. Evening in the Narrows is a depressing time; the smog and pollution blocked out what little sun there was and turned the skies a thick, phlegm-like colour and walking by the river lacked any romantic notions one would associate with walking by a river at dusk; the water was polluted and thick, rather like most people who lived here . It was then, she saw him...out of costume and trying to look incognito, shuffling down the street in a woollen hat and fleece so baggy it was falling off his shoulders. He looked like a hobo, but she'd recognise that thick black hair, those high cheek bones anywhere. She was also there; that fake bitch that should have been dead. She recognised Griffin from anywhere, despite the hoe wearing huge black sunglasses and a thin brown mack, her thick, out of control, long brunette locks brushed forward to hide most of her face with that huge hook of a nose protruding out...she looked like a piss-take of a cartoon detective. At first, Zara stood there, transfixed at the Couple of Fear actually walking around the streets...it was such a normal thing for such as them, it was actually unnerving. Super villains did not walk around the streets at night without...protection...thugs...guns...dressed in civilian clothing (ok, dressed in a way to make them blend into the crowd, but Zara had never seen them out of their costumes or Arkham attire). The next moments happened in slow motion; Psyche began talking quietly to Crane who in turn, looked down at the woman who only just came up to his elbows and smiled. Zara's blood boiled, and she was about to scream out, when a black figure dropped down, landing on top of them and knocking them both to the ground. Psyche was trapped, but Crane had rolled side wards. Straightening up, he smirked at the Batman, his eyes never leaving his and ignoring the screams of Psyche who was underfoot. "I believe that you're standing on my property Batman." He stated coolly before, with all the speed of a cougar, he lunged at the Bat, causing him to jump off Griffin (who screeched at the shock of Batman's foot on her stomach) and drive his fist into Crane's jaw. Zara, still stood there transfixed as she watched Crane, FROM THE floor, raise his arm and spray Batman with toxin. For a second, she held her breath keen to see the effects of fear toxin actually being used on _El Murciélago_. She was disappointed however when the Batman merely coughed slightly before punching Scarecrow in the face. _

_ "Oh for fuck's sake. How did you do an antidote to this strain?" Psyche had yelled, finally straightening up, pulling out a revolver and pointing it at the Bat, regardless of him holding Crane in a chokehold. "Take. Your Hands. Off. Him. Now." Psyche had commanded, in a voice which actually made Zara jump. Batman on the other hand, wasn't as fazed. Reaching for his belt with lightning speed, twisting Crane into a human shield position and calling Psyche's bluff, he launched a batarrang at her, knocking the gun out of her hands and causing her to hiss in pain angrily. Whilst Griffin tried to dive for her gun again, Batman threw a second batarrang, clipping her around the head and subduing the infamous villainess. Still Zara watched. It was unbelievable...Elizabeth Griffin had failed in protecting the love of Zara's life...she was unworthy...she was unworthy. _

_In a flash of pure obsession and madness, Zara looked down, the can of gasoline liquid in her hands...her lighter in her pocket. Her eyes fixed on the still disorientated Griffin and Batman and Johnny fighting each other...it was like taking candy from a baby! She'd kill Psyche, and she'd naturally take her place. She crept closer to her, unscrewing the cap quietly (in her head, all she could see was her Johnny. Her Johnny taking her up in his arms, her Johnny clapping as the unworthy bitch burnt, the realisation dawning on him that he had finally found her)._

_Ahh, she never saw her. The dumb bitch Griffin whipped around and glared at her up close, her teeth bared and a fist crashing into Zara's jaw, knocking the can out of her hands. It was too late though, from the floor, Zara smirked, looking at the face of the woman who had stolen from her...she was so close she could see the acne, the whites of her eyes, the scars...the surgery scars around her nose...it was amazing to see the woman so close up...she was so small...she was weak (true Zara wasn't the strongest person in the world, but seeing Griffin about to die, she felt so powerful). Pulling out the lighter from her pocket, she looked into those dark brown eyes madly and savoured them widen when the bitch realised what was about to happen. Unfortunately, that interfering bastard Batman did too. Just as Zara had flipped the lid, ready to burn (the not so scary) Griffin, a batarrang collided with her hand, causing her to drop it with a cry of pain...and let go of Griffin's scalp. Looking up livid at him, Zara's face contorted_

"_No." Batman growled. "Never kill...that is not justice..."_

_ "This isn't justice..." Zara spat, looking at the man caught in a headlock by Batman in a sickening manner. "This is for hi..." This sentence however, was cut off by a loud SPLASH. Looking down, Zara screamed wildly like a wounded animal. Griffin had escaped, jumping into the murky waters of the river beside them instead of just standing there and accepting her death and letting Zara take her rightful place as the Mistress of Fear. Looking back up, ready to scream at the Bat, to beg Johnny to forgive her failure...but Batman was gone. The Batmobile was beginning to close, and Jonathan Crane was sat in there bound and almost unconscious...but looking at her...dead in the eyes...no affection, no disappointment...no sense of the feelings she had carried around for him all these years since she was 12...he just seemed to be analysing her before the door slammed shut._

* * *

Since then, she'd lived in hope. He'd looked at her...hadn't that been enough? Tonight...tonight had to be a challenge right? He'd cast off Psyche, and tonight was all about proving herself to her idol to test her on her suitability to join him by his side. It had been terrifying, it had been hard, but she had overcome it, she had woken up from...that memory when she failed. When she had come round, that Lisa girl was the only other one awake, she was running around the room screaming at the top of her lungs, an insane smile playing on her lips. Why wasn't she on the floor like the rest? She went to stand up, but felt a weird sensation on the inside of her socks. Easing her hand down, she felt a cold sharpness. Tracing her hand down to avoid detection from the girl running around, she eased the cold, hard object out...a pair of scissors. Zara rose slowly to the only girl standing; still looking at the door and screaming. It was weird though, though the Wheaton girl was screaming loudly, her eyes were expressionless, glassy and cold (being a hairdresser, Zara had plenty of experience seeing women unload their troubles to her through a mirror). With the scissors in her hand, it clicked.

"You bitches." She snarled, diving at Lisa from behind, "I won't let you get away from me again!"

Lisa squeaked as Zara's weight knocked her from behind, forcing her to the floor. Grabbing her hair, she went to scream, god knows what was happening on the other side of the door, but looking around the other girls were still lying prostrate, trapped in their own nightmares and not looking as if they were going to free themselves soon. As she went to scream however, to warn Chloe, she felt the scissors dig into her throat.

"Quiet bitch." Zara snarled. She knew what was going on, looking around, that Mandelson chick was missing. It was all so obvious now."You're all mocking me aren't you...Psyche?"

Lisa's eyes bulged wide "Wh...wh..."

"Quiet." Zara repeated again, poisonously, jabbing the scissors again, harder this time. Just as this happened, the door swung open automatically, revealing Chloe, rubbing her neck, but otherwise fine. Zara's eyes narrowed madly. She understood now; she had been a fool. All the way through this procedure, she had believed that Crane was testing her, seeing if she could truly be worthy. When she'd woken up however, and seen that girl standing, she had realised the obviousness.

"I'm going to die tonight aren't I?" Zara growled at Chloe, the scissors still pinned to Lisa. "You made me believe that if I survived this, I'd join the Scarecrow didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" Not waiting for an answer however, she continued, glaring at Chloe, "I don't know how you got on with them, was it like a Quinzelle job? Did they take you on in Arkham? Fuck, I went about this all wrong. For years I thought I could just run into your lot and all the time, I should have been going to Arkham...is it some sort of dating agency there with the inmates and doctors?" Zara's eyes were wild, she was furious; damn Psyche, damn this green eyed girl, they were both out to kill her, and goddamn that bastard Crane for not having the balls to do it himself. Looking up at the camera, she snarled at it: "See this Crane? I'm gonna kill your whore, then I'm gonna kill Nygma's. How'dya like that Johnny? How do you like that? NOW DO YOU WISH YOU HAD ACCEPTED MY OFFER NOW?"

It was unbelievable what Chloe was hearing. Had this girl completly lost it? "I've...just been strangled nearly by a madman...and you think I'm in cahoots with them?" She rasped angrily. "You...you're delusional." She snarled, feeling the fire Crane had encouraged in her begin to burn. So many times in the past, this fire had gone ignored, pushed down whilst her parents had screamed abuse at her, so much abuse...looking down at Lisa's terrified face, Chloe for a second, saw herself, only as a child.

"_You were one of those children who used to cry in your room alone weren't you?" Crane asked, his fingers arched and resting his chin on them. Chloe had no idea how much she had seen of him now, she'd started forgetting to record things on sheets properly, according to the murmers of the Arkham guards, she was turning up more than the other students on their cases; point is, with Jonathan Crane, she never felt real anymore until their sessions with him guiding her. How did he do that?_

Starring into Lisa's terrified eyes, her purple framed glasses askew and long black hair being pulled by the Latino psycho. To Chloe though, she saw not the hairdresser, but her father; always her father, her father pushing her to the floor.

"_Tell me Miss Mandelson," Crane posed to her, "statistically, abused and neglected children are more likely to be abusive later on in life. With your very clear case of emotional abuse, what would you do if you saw...say...a person being attacked by someone much more stronger?"_

Chloe had faltered when that question had been asked. It wasn't a traditional question and after all, she'd never considered herself to be the subject of emotional abuse, she just thought of her upbringing as a little crap.

"_Er..." She had stammered. "Exactly what anybody else would do?"_

Now, she understood. Lisa, the girl who had clung to her throughout this experiment, the only one to know what the Couple of Fear were truly like...apart from Rosie who now lay dead a few doors back. Lisa was the only one she could trust now and here Zara was, trying to convince her of the sublime and ridiculous.

"You fucking idiot." Chloe snarled, "First you think I'm in on whatever this is, then you think Lisa's the Mistress of fucking Fear? Look at her, she looks nothing like Psyche." True, Lisa did have a bit of a big nose like Psyche, but Lisa's was more bulbous and fatter. It was so ridiculous an accusation that if one of them wasn't in danger of having her throat cut at this very moment in time, Chloe would definitely have laughed at the ridiculous idiocy coming from this deranged fangirl. Unfortunately, Zara was far past reasonable discussion.

"I'll fucking kill her Johnny! I'll kill her, I'll kill them all!"

* * *

In the separate room, Edward who had begun drinking yet another glass of wine sprayed Solora Cabernet Merlot 2004 all over the screens. He had begrudgingly stopped arguing with Crane when this little floor show had begun. He had been so impressed to see that fiery little minx get vicious, but that revelation...that was unbelievable.

"Impossible!" He yelled out at the screen, agreeing with Mandelson, "No way is that Catherine...is it?" His eyes darted back to Crane who had put his mask to the side to sip about his fourth glass of wine. Even without his mask however, he was still unreadable as the point of anything concocted by Simon Cowell. Crane continued sitting there, frozen and unmoveable. Putting his glass down, Jonathan stared straight at the screen.

"Rather unlikely isn't it?" He said smoothly, "You already have the information that she is unconscious in Arkham. I'd be surprised if she had managed to break out really..."

"I only have it on your word that she was left behind." Edward countered, his eyes bright with rage, "I swear Crane, if there is any funny business going on tonight to make a fool out of me..."

"As you can see Edward" Crane looked at him in the eye, starting to look bored. "These subjects are probably more interesting to me than you, look how with a hint of suggestion, this sad fangirl, who I'm afraid to say suffers...a little bit of an infatuation with me..."

"Yeah yeah, I saw the Youtube video." Nygma smirked. Surprising how much fun his iphone gave him (really, it was a gift from his adopted daughter to keep in touch, though he had also discovered the joy of Angry Birds, a game which required mental reasoning to succeed in, which he as the Riddler possessed in spades), being able to see the numerous fanvids this Zara girl had put up of her idol...still "It doesn't explain what's going on does it Crane?" He also mentally noted to call Shyera soon, just to make sure the bat was really out of the way. He needed to see Chloe again.

"Those scissors were put there by me before she woke up." Jonathan explained slowly, more interested in what was happening on the screen, "A syringe to numb the skin on her ankle so that they wouldn't register and an extra pair of socks on her...hmm. It appears numbing gel really does work for 4 hours...Funny really isn't it?" Crane interrupted himself, "A girl who has never met me properly, never spoken to me and really, only knows about me through the media has put me on a pedestal and is willing to kill a random stranger she has met a few hours ago because she wasn't on the floor screaming like the others. Amazing how being different in this little experiment singles you out really isn't it?" He then had to chuckle, "You really shouldn't have done that Edward."

"Do what?" Nygma growled, starting to lose his patience now.

"Why, approach Miss Mandelson. If this girl is about to kill Miss Wheaton on the assumption that she is Catherine simply because she was the only one awake, what will she do to somebody who's just walked back into the room...you didn't give her any weapons did you?" To this, Edward, rather out of character felt like punching the walls.

"Oh what a fool I am!" He cried theatrically, "I should have given her something! I should have..."

"Not become obsessed with somebody you know nothing about?" Crane returned to the screen, "Surprising really, a mind such as yours and yet the only difference between you and that subject down there is that you won't kill anybody who threatens your obsession...still, she is only a subject after all."

"If she dies Crane, you'll be sorry." Edward snarled, rising from his seat. He'd put a stop to this. Crane's arm shot out though, pulling him back down.

"If she's as worthy as we both think, sit back down and let her take out the garbage." Scarecrow snarled menacingly, making a nervous Edward sit back down quicker than the speakers on the walls erupted in fresh new screams from the other room.

* * *

**WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?Again, sorry I disappeared, so much has happened! Arkham City came out(with no Crane despite what I expected to happen) and my original baby Psyche has reached over 100 reviews (really need to beta that at some point, that layout really is annoying and not excusable now I can upload properly). Shout outs to all my friends from facebook reading this, Charlotte Marissa and Edward mostly as well as Aileen and anybody else seeing this from my page.**

**To Shyera for making me write (even when I was busy thankyou very much for the constant bothering missy), but most of all, to the people who've been waiting since December last year, missed you all and was weird not writing. Hope I've gotten back into my stride, but review and let me know what you think. I'm assuming not everybody's high on fear toxin like Zara so they might be able to make a rational decision on what's happening in this chapter.**

**The title Optophobia is a bit of a play on the actual words, take it to be Fear of Realisation as Zara thinks she's realised what's going on...or has she?  
**

**Also! It's been confirmed that Scarecrow is in the next Batman film. I like to spread good news around**

**Next chapter coming soon!**

**Artemis out xxxxxxxx**


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